Reverse
by HappyPNF
Summary: Harry defeats the dark lord, but at the price of all his friends. Fate decides to give Harry another chance, but is it going to be the same? Not if Harry can help it. Dimension hopping fic, currently starting year 1. Semi-canon, will include quite a lot of AU.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Just an idea my friend had and decided to post this up. Heads up that this is going to be a powerful Harry fic with a pairing with Ginny being likely, although it's not concrete at this point.**

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING. ALL HARRY POTTER RELATED STUFF BELONGS TO JK ROWLING. **

A lone man clad in dark blue robes sat next to a stone. To be specific, a tombstone. To be more specific, a multitude of tombstones. Flowers laid afresh on the graves; the testimony of the constant visits by the man. Looking wider, the new Hogwarts having finished reconstruction months ago. The lake still had its giant squid, and the Forbidden Forest was still… forbidden. Except that it no longer really posed a major threat. Now enough of this, back to the man.

The man sighed as he traced the hairline cracks and imperfections on the tombstone. Three lines of words spelled what he had lost.

**_Ginerva Molly "Ginny" Weasley_**

**_Born: August 11, 1981_**

**_Died: December 25, 1997_**

The man looked on. There beyond was his best mate, Ron. Right next to it, Hermione. Not too far, more familiar names were etched on more stones. Albus Dumbledore, Severus Snape, and they continued… Nearly all the professors died when Voldemort assaulted Hogwarts and razed it to the ground. Not just the professors, countless number of those too weak to fight. The man broke his melancholy thoughts and looked at the new Hogwarts and smiled. No more bloodshed. No more hiding. No more killing. No more worries. No more pain. No more of his previous grievances of life. Just a future that everyone who fought Voldemort wanted. No more of house rivalries, no more misconceptions of different creatures and beings that were used by politics and history. The thoughts of the future gave the man strength to live on and continue his life to bury his past. He slowly stood up and took off his sweater with a large H&G on it and laid it on the grave. He waved his hand and the sweater clung to the grave. With that, he started walking away and gave one last glace back, to whisper, "Goodbye Ginny. I will never forget you." And with that, he sealed the knowledge of the cemetery from everybody except for him. And even then, he vowed to never look back. Stepping on random twigs and leaves as he walked through the forest, he didn't notice the dart that shot from a treetop. A burst of flame appeared and took the dart with the ashes falling on the man. Alert now, the man looked around to feel a slight prick on his arm, which was all the man felt before he collapsed on the forest floor. The assassin smirked; the boy who lived is no more. A blonde haired man calmly approached the assassin.

"You rid of Potter? Good… so you want the payment now Mr. Gregor?" the blonde asked as he held a sack of galleons.

The assassin eyed the galleons greedily, "Most certainly Mr. Malfoy."

A gunshot rang out in the forest and another man collapsed onto the forest floor.

"Goodnight Mister."

(PAGE BREAK)

Harry walked away from the graves and thought of the new students coming this term. He smiled as he thought of how he was the youngest headmaster the school ever had. This meant he had privileges that old goat had and imagined what Sirius would say. From an emaciated, nervous, and powerless boy to one of the greatest wizards of the century, defeater of Voldemort, Supreme Mugwump… ok that's enough. Sirius would probably be horrified by how un-Maraudererish he was becoming. And still a virgin? Man, Sirius is going to corner him until Sirius solves the "mid-life" crisis of being a virgin when he's only 21. Like that mattered right now. A flash of flame caught his eye and the ashes fell on him. What did Fawkes protect him from? Before he could further muse, a prick in Harry's arm stopped his random musings and was the last thoughts he had.

Harry blearily saw something like Platform 9 ¾, but was shrouded in heavy mist. People milled about, but he couldn't talk to them. He didn't recognize anyone for the matter. It was slightly unnerving to him. Suddenly, everything blacked out again.

Harry saw things flash by quickly. A man who looked like him except with hazel colored eyes and a carefree expression held a giggling baby, a boy who looked like him proudly holding a Nimbus 2000, the same boy again holding a trophy of sorts, then shifting to one where the boy received his OWL results letter. A different boy then appeared, who looked similar, but had the hazel eyes, red hair, and a little bit better filled out who was laughing with this copy of him about something, shifting to another scene where they were dueling each other, and shifting to one where they were sneaking around Hogwarts with the cloak and map. After that, Harry saw no more.

Harry opened his eyes, feeling like it was years before he opened them. He reflexively moved his fingers and touched the blanket. His fingers responded to his commands with no problems and proceeded get out of bed and stand up. His feet hit the soft carpet and he stretched. Wait a minute, why is he in a bedroom? Wasn't he supposed to be heading back to the castle? And who decided to make his room so homey and comfy anyways? He felt in his pocket the trunk he brought with him that contained his vital possessions and a quantity of gold. It was still there. Memories of his death flashed and Harry staggered a little. Wait, so he should be dead. Now why is he alive and well and what the hell is this place? Yeah, it's nice to have a broom on the wall and a room he would have died to get when he was younger, but he wasn't into that right now. Seeing the door, Harry pondered if he should open it. Remembered he should be ready, Harry involuntarily remembered the old auror who kept making constant vigilance his punch line where ever he was. Heh, he didn't pay attention and paid with his life… or what it seems like. Or did he get drugged by previous death eaters? He frantically felt the wand holsters on his arms and sure enough, he still had a wand on each arm. He pulled them out and let his magic flow and both wands responded with a burst of red sparks. No way was he drugged; he would have no wands and his trunk would probably be taken. Deciding to answer questions instead of making more, Harry started by looking into the mirror and immediately gasped. He didn't have the scar anymore and even better, his scars from the war were gone. Even more surprising was his body which had de-aged as he could describe it. He was shorter and his skin was smoother, but they still retained the smooth lithe muscles he built from training. Thinking of McGonagall, he smirked at the thought of her staring open mouthed and asking him how he managed to look so young. Actually, that's disturbing… Harry decided to banish the thought from his mind. He opened the door and it was a bedroom in the end of a short hall that led to a set of stairs. Hearing some talk and laughter downstairs, Harry decided he was going to figure what the ruckus was about. Before he could get past the second to last bedroom in the hall, a little red blur slammed into his leg.

A/N: This is my first HP fic, so any advice is appreciated. Thanks for reading and expect an update in a couple days.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thanks guys for the reviews, now umm... on with the story? Yeah, this wasn't really an authors note...**

**"**Good monin Hawwy!" the girl said.

Huh? Who is this? The perplexed face must have been seen by the little girl and perplexed her.

"Are you alwight Hawwy?"

Harry still looked dumbly at the little girl. This girl acted like she knew him all his life when he never saw her. The little girl was starting to get anxious and seemed scared of something.

"What's wong Hawwy? It's me, lil' Lily!"

Ok, so the girl's name is Lily and apparently she doesn't like insightful looking facial expressions.

"Uh… hey Lily."

The girl just looked at Harry and raised her hands up as if wanting to be carried. Well, why not? She looked so innocent and cute. Harry hoisted her onto his back and walked downstairs, following the voices that issued from what looks like the dining room with Lily pulling at his hair and laughing. Harry winced at the slight pain, but smiled at hearing the joyful squeals of the girl on his shoulders. Whoever she is, she is just what any child should be. Banishing any more thoughts, Harry concentrated on answering some questions by walking straight into the dining room. Before he walked in, Harry noticed something for the first time. Even with the toddler on him, he was still short of the doorway at least a foot which means he is… short. Very short. Harry pondered this for a bit, but decided to withhold for now and without further ado, Harry walked into the dining room. The conversing stopped and only the joyful laughter of Lily permeated the air. Instead of words, five pairs of eyes bored into Harry. But being used to such looks, Harry impassively looked at the five people sitting around a dining table. There were three men who looked in their mid-thirties sitting on one side of the table and a lady about the same age with a small boy sitting next to her. Before he could further discern their identities, one of the men spoke.

"Uh, are you ok Harry?"

That voice… it's so alike to his. It's so alike to the voice of the man in his dreams of when Voldemort came to kill him when he was a baby. The unruly raven hair, the hazel eyes, the pair of glasses; a virtual mirror of him except for the eyes and some features. It can't be James Potter? Harry looked immediately to the other men, and to his horror, Sirius and Remus were sitting there too. Looking to the lady, the red hair and those unique emerald eyes… just like his emerald eyes. Harry scolded himself. No fucking way is the dead coming back.

"Umm Harry? Hello?'

The voice of the man that looks and sounds and seems like James Potter spoke again. Almost failing to find his voice, Harry spoke,

"Hi Dad."

James cocked an eyebrow up.

"So are you going to explain to me son why you disappeared yesterday night?"

Harry didn't know what to say. It's the equivalent of talking to the living dead. And here they were, all acting like they never died. Like they never faced the horrors they had faced. The muted, yet cheerful expression of Remus and the absolutely carefree grin plastered on a very healthy looking Sirius certainly made them look like the perfect innocent clones of who Harry had remembered. And don't get started on his parents; Harry never saw them besides flashes of memory and a few photos. Harry decided to play the flying card.

"Umm… I flew out to get some fresh air."

James kept his eyebrow up.

"You expect me to believe that?"

"Yes." Harry replied while trying to think of some way to get out of this situation.

"Do you know how worried we are son?! You didn't let anyone know, you didn't leave a note! You just left!" James started to yell.

Harry decided to play the innocent card and gave James the best puppy dog look on his face (which was by all means terrible), "Sorry Dad. I didn't think that it was going to be this bad. It was just for a little air and some flying."

James eased a little, "It's fine son, but just let us know. You can't expect to be going alone out there and coming back without a scratch every time right? Unless you were going to dung bomb Snivellius's hom-"

"JAMES! WHAT DID I TELL YOU ABOUT ENCOURAGING OUR SONS?" Lily screeched and glared daggers at James who immediately quailed. Harry flinched a little too. Never has he seen anyone having such a voice and look. Yep, definitely going to quail anybody in the unfortunate path of Lily Potter. Speaking of the devil, the same look was directed at Harry, to James' relief. Harry valiantly erected his Occulmency barriers to quell the force of the glare, but failed and took a step back. Lily continued the staring contest for a full torturous minute, much to the delight of Sirius who was slowly turned red. Eventually, his merriment burst which allowed Harry a respite and Sirius getting the stare at him. Luckily, Remus kept an indifferent expression. The room immediately went silent except for little Lily who said, "So wher is bwekfast?"

After a tense moment, Lily smiled and picked little Lily up, "There there my little sweetie, I'm making some now." And with that, she walked to the kitchen.

James just sighed, "Harry, just remember that it's a responsibility as your parents to take care and look out for you. We can't do that if we aren't in touch. I know that was something Lily should be saying, but I feel that as a Dad, I need to give you that rant. Now that's aside, let's get talking about some lighter subjects, shall we? No, that's not a question son. Anyways, Hogwarts should be sending letters today so you should be –" (a smallish owl that looked like it was going to fall over from the weight of a letter dropped a letter on the table and immediately sped outside).

"Speaking of the letter! So there we go Harry, get ready to go to Diagon Alley next week. And Daniel, stop sulking over there. You'll get your letter soon enough."

Daniel whined, "But Dad, it's going to be another two years, you know that!"

"Yes son, but that means that we have two more years to prepare for mayhem to be done at Hogwarts. Isn't-"

"YES! So we are going to have permission to prank in school now!" Daniel said with a fist in the air. "But isn't that two years from now?"

James was about to reply when Lily came back in with breakfast and laid six steaming hot plates of pancakes and bacon on the table. Lily glared suspiciously at James because of Daniel's rather happy expression, but decided to give it up for the moment. Harry meanwhile immediately dug in and to say the least, Harry was extremely impressed by the cooking his mother could do. Or rather, what he thinks is his mother anyways. While chewing on his food, Harry immediately was struck with a thought. He didn't open his letter yet! But wait a minute, Harry IS the headmaster, so why the hell does he need to be invited as a student? Deciding to open the letter, he got a shock.

**HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY**

**Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore**

**(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,**

**Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)**

**Dear Mr. Potter,**

**We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.**

**Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July.**

**Yours sincerely,**

**Minerva McGonagall**

**Deputy Headmistress**

A first year student! What the heck?! Then Harry mentally face-palmed himself and imagined that Hermione was going to have blackmail material if this ever gets out. Being so young, scarless, small, and being with people that should have died a long time ago should have rung a bell. Even more, a brother and a sister! Harry quickly thought of _Tempus_. Floating blue numerals signified the year and sure enough, it was the year 1991. This can only mean one thing; he has traveled to a different dimension. It can't be the past because he never had siblings and would have been at the Dursley's at this time. Harry racked his brains out remembering what Flamel talked about these parallel universes to only get some green like aliens from muggle movies popping in his head. No, that's not the answer. Argh! Harry wished that he paid more attention to this stuff back then. Harry silently berated himself. But why bother fighting this reality? His parents are alive and having a brother and a sister to boot. An added bonus of Sirius and Remus being alive was even better. Ending his thoughts, Harry went back to move the food on the plate into his mouth so that he could fuel the engine to further think.

After finishing breakfast, Harry went back upstairs and into his room. Today was just a free day, so as long as he didn't leave the house, it's ok to do. Well, not if he had to do anything with a specific girl in mind. Those luscious red lips, those alluring twin - damn it Potter! You're only 11 and thinking like a teenage pervert. Wait a minute, I am technically 19 right? Yeah, so that's perfectly fine, but doesn't that mean that Ginny is 10? Ok… that is just pure child molestation. Sighing, Harry decided that he needed to wait a few more years before he can let his hormones flow. But he didn't care. Take him another hundred years, and that was going to be totally worth it. After all, a chance to be with his love is better than none. Thinking along the line of how everyone is younger and Harry is without a scar, doesn't that mean there's no boy-who-lived? And is there still the Golden Trio? Damn, this alternate stuff is more problemic than what Harry had originally thought. Yes, everyone is alive, but are things going to be the same? Harry face-palmed himself. Life seems to never be easy on him, especially when fate meddles with his life and that manipulative old goat back in Hogwarts. A burst of energy flashed from Harry as he was thinking of this and quickly dissipated leaving no trace of it ever happening. Or so it seems.

Harry heard a little squeak and remembered the pile of ashes. So Fawkes managed to follow him… Oh yeah, that's right, Fawkes had died. So while Fawkes is growing up again, Harry decided he needed to test his wands and find out if his power had diminished being in a younger body. After all, if he faced any one of Volde's cronies, constant vigilance wouldn't hurt. He took the trunk out of his pocket and expanded it to its normal size. Popping it open, he went into one compartment that was his personal practicing room. Activating a rune, a dummy appeared. _Reducto! _The head of the dummy didn't stand a chance to the power of the Elder Wand. Repairing the dummy, Harry blasted the dummy again. _Reducto! _Again, the same result with his old Phoenix core wand. Harry then put his wands away and looked at the headless dummy and forced his magic to repair it. The dummy was intact again. Now focusing intently on the dummy, Harry willed the thought of the dummy exploding into pieces.

BOOM!

Satisfied with the result, Harry went outside of the trunk, shrunk it, and put it in his pocket. Abilities still there? Check. Now to go to Flamel and get some questions answered. Harry closed his eyes and focused on where he remembered Nicolas Flamel lived at. Finishing the thought, a flash of flame and Harry disappeared from Godric's Hollow.

_Foom!_

Harry appeared in a flash of flame in a normal plain office of sorts with a fairly old man in it. Harry decided he was going to confront Nicolas.

"Hi N-"

A red light flew towards Harry, who has instinctively dodged the stunner. Another flash of light and Harry went to the other side of the room. Having enough of dodging, he murmured _Subsisto Magicus_. Immediately, the assault of spells ceased and Flamel cocked an eyebrow up.

"Who are you stranger? I only made that spell a month ago."

"It's me Harry. Oh yeah, you probably don't know me… So I guess a proper introduction is in order?"

Nicolas nodded.

"My name is Harry James Potter and I was your apprentice. Was is because somehow I was killed and I awoke eight years younger as I am now. Don't worry old man, only we know that spell. Anyways-"

Unbeknownst to Harry, Nicolas was suppressing his merriment. It was too much and his laughter bursted, "Oh Harry, you should have seen your face and how you were trying to be formal and greasing the wheels. No wonder that barmy hat put you in Gryffindor and not Slytherin."

"What? Everything is distorted as shit and I assumed you were unaware of who I am." Harry replied indigently.

Nicolas smirked, "What's the fun in that?"

Harry just rolled his eyes, "Ok, so I don't need to waste my time introducing myself. So since you seem to know so much, what happened?"

"I couldn't let my apprentice die on my watch, eh? So I picked up a book and said, AVADA KEDEVRA! And here I am." Nicolas replied without any hint of sarcasm.

Harry took the answer on face-value first, "Coo- WAIT, WAIT, WAIT! So you killed yourself?"

Nicolas shook his head, "Are you serious Harry? I know I'm older than a walking skeleton, but seriously, kill myself? Nah, that's not me. That'll be just like a barmy old coot."

"But you ARE a barmy old coot!"

Nicolas sighed, "Bugger… I forgot you loved calling me an old coot. Out of everyone I could have picked, I get you. Sometimes I wished Riddle was my apprentice."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah old COOT, but you know that it's music to your ears." Harry replied, waggled his eyebrows, and stuck his tongue out. A dagger immediately flew and would have chopped off Harry's tongue if he had left it out for another second.

The dagger quivered on the wall and disappeared.

"My mistake Harry, but I swear that if you continue, I would be starting to think that you're pitching for the other team."

Harry huffed at the implication, "What tea- oh no you didn't Nicky!"

Nicolas smiled, "Oh yes I mean it."

Harry rolled his eyes, "Honestly, if Perenelle didn't live this long, I swear you would have gone for the other team."

A bolt of lightning out of nowhere almost struck Harry, which coincidentally missed him by a few inches. Harry took it in stride, "So that's aside, how the hell am I in what seems like an alternate dimension?"

Nicolas rapped his fingers on a table, "To be honest Harry, I can't give you answers. However, I can say that this is no coincidence. No such thing has been written, though I suspect there are more than a handful out there just like you and me that are in the wrong time period or this case totally a different dimension. Whatever we have on hand are mere speculations of what we think are how these occurrences happen, but as far as I am concerned, I am as blind as you. As for me, I don't even know so don't bother to ask."

Harry pondered this for a bit, "So you say that you don't have much thoughts about this huh? So anyway you know that could make us come back?"

Nicolas shook his head, "If we don't even know how the hell we are here, do you really expect to be able to come back? Unless something like this happens again, we MIGHT get back to our dimension, but remember, there are theoretically infinite number of dimensions. Who knows what hell hole we'll land in? Heck,we're damn lucky we landed in an intact wizarding world that is a virtual mirror of ours. Imagine if we landed in a world dominated by Voldemort or Grindelwald for the matter. Definitely count ourselves lucky as it is and having all the extras are real bonuses. Yes, I know your parents are alive and well here and that you have siblings. If you ask me, no. You can visit me and ask questions, but as to training, I'll let you know when we resume. For now, enjoy that childhood you never had."

Harry agreed, "Definitely. Though wouldn't you miss me being a Supreme Mugwump?"

"Hell no! Your head is already damn inflated as it is. Now go home you little rascal before I show you how to properly duel with the famous Flamel!"

Harry smirked as he silently cast a spell at Nicolas' feet and his hair, "Alright Nicky, I'll be out in a jiffy."

_Foom!_

"Damn bugger loves to showoff." Nicolas muttered and he walked towards the bathroom with a pair of penguin squeaking sneakers and a medusa hairdo.

"HARRY JAMES POTTER!" Nicolas roared when he looked at the mirror.

"My oh my sisters of mine, doesn't this old coot look lovely?" Medusa one said.

"Certainly dear sister." Medusa two replied.

A/N: So there is another chapter... Thanks for reading and expect an update in a week or so.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Thank you for the reviews and I'm glad you guys are enjoying it :P By the way, as a head notice, there is absolutely NO bashing or slashes in this fic. So if you are looking forward to such, find another story. My intention thus far is a normal Ron (i.e. sometimes hot tempered) but not the stupid type (I'm not a fan of bashing). As for Dumbledore, he is manipulative, but because he is unaware of who Harry really is at this point, I have no need to emphasize that trait of Dumbledore. Really, I think he just chases too much for the greater good, although I do say some of the stories about Dumbledore striving for extreme measures is too much for my taste. Enough of this rant…**

Harry returned to his bedroom just as clueless as he entered it. So Nicky doesn't know much too eh? Oh well, the positives are greater than the negatives, if any. Deciding that he wanted to connect with his "brother," Harry opened the bedroom door and went downstairs to the living room. Still unused to having any siblings, Harry tried to strike a conversation.

"Hey Daniel."

"Hi Harry."

What to say, what to say…

"Uh Daniel, do you know where mum and dad are?"

"They're at work at the ministry. Don't you already know? They only have Sunday as a break."

Ok, so Lily and James or "mum" and "dad" respectively are ministry workers. So what do they do? Harry decided he was going to find out in his own terms. Further asking would only irk his "brother" and raise some eyebrows, which is something Harry doesn't need right now.

"Um Daniel, do you want to play a game of Quidditch later?"

"Sure Harry. How about a game of wizard's chess in the meantime?"

Harry inwardly groaned. That was one of the few Acheles Heal of his that he never got ironed out. Damned pieces always seemed to rebel against him and the game just stinks.

"Ok Daniel. But be warned; the pieces might not like me."

Daniel rolled his eyes, "Yeah, yeah, whatever. You know you're going to lose and you're just pointing a finger at something."

Harry didn't reply and waited as Daniel got the chess set and set it up. Before Harry could say anything, Daniel said, "I get white."

Harry only had four words in mind: Shite's gonna roll downhill.

Five minutes later…

"Checkmate!" Daniel said.

"What? How did you do that?"

Daniel smugly looked at Harry, "It's called having superior strategy thinking powers."

Harry grumbled, "Yeah right, it's just that I suck at this."

Daniel just waved the comment off, "Another round then?"

"Sure, but be warned; the pieces might rebel against me."

And sure enough, the black pieces started to grumble.

"Let us get the other guy!" pawn one said.

"Yeah, this guy is gonna be the death of us!" a rook said.

"This guy is just a smelly arse. Let's stay put and live a little longer." pawn two said.

"My lord! This fool will lead us to our doom!" knight one said.

"My lady! Flee if you wish to live! We shall protect you!" knight two said.

At that, both knights marched over to the queen protectively.

Harry put his hands in the air at this point, "Told you so."

Daniel smirked, "Alright, so how about Quidditch?"

"Why the hell aren't we out on the Quidditch pitch outside in the first place?"

Daniel agreed, "Let's head out then! I'll grab my broom."

Daniel went upstairs to retrieve his broom. Harry meanwhile just sat back on a couch in the living room. A minute later, Daniel was back with a Nimbus 2000 in hand.

"So you ready to be whooped Daniel?" Harry said.

"Yeah right. You're just as mediocre on a broom as with a board." Daniel replied.

Harry just headed to the pitch, "Why not find out?"

Daniel grunted and followed Harry to the pitch. Daniel was confused when they arrived at the pitch with Harry still broomless.

"Uh Harry. You need a broom." Daniel stated as if it wasn't the most obvious thing in the world.

Harry rolled his eyes, "Yes I know Daniel."

In a perfect imitation of the force pull, Harry closed his eyes and stuck his arm out with his hand seeming to grip the air. Daniel looked on impassively at this weird action his brother was doing.

A couple seconds later…

_"Sound of glass breaking" _

_Whoosh!_

The Nimbus 2000 on the wall in Harry's bedroom whisked into Harry's hand. Daniel just stared at Harry's broom with his mouth open. Harry just did magic! Even better, it was wandless AND silent! Daniel remembered about how his mother would even have trouble lifting a shirt without a wand. Forget about the silent part, this was just jaw dropping. He never knew his brother was so…

Harry opened his eyes and with satisfaction, gripped the Nimbus 2000. It was just as beautiful as his Nimbus when he got his for his first year. Well, except for a glass shard embedded into the bristles of the broom. Harry banished the glass and felt for the broken window and whispered _Reparo_. Reasonably satisfied that things were back to normal, Harry turned back and looked at his brother, who was still mutely staring at Harry.

"Daniel, seriously, close your mouth before you start eating flies and making me think that you are an escaped St. Mungos mental patient."

Daniel worked his jaw up and down for a bit and finally clamped it shut and managed to utter, "How?"

It was Harry's term to smirk and spread his arms wide, "Magic."

Daniel shook out of his stupor and finally grasped his voice, "That's painfully obvious Harry. But how?"

Harry shook his head, "It's called having superior magical powers."

Daniel groaned, "Ok fine. You suck at chess and I suck at magic. Can you show me how to do what you did? I'll show you some killer chess moves…"

Harry shook his head again and smirked, "It's a trade secret. How about a game of seeker and I'll think about it afterwards."

"Great! So did you grab the snitch?"

Harry shrugged his shoulders at the same time taking his mind out of the gutter... Daniel groaned for the third time, "I forgot Harry, the set is in the basement. So you want to get it or –"

Before Daniel could finish his sentence, Harry had summoned the snitch already and held it out on his palm. Daniel blinked once, then again, and shook his head. There was no way that his brother is like this. Has he been holding out until today? Banishing such thoughts for the moment, Daniel decided he wasn't going to be bested in a seeker contest. After all, the last dozen times Daniel smashed Harry although he sucks himself, Harry is the king of noobs so it wasn't really something of a challenge. But hey! Bragging rights!

"Ready Harry?" Daniel said with an air of confidence.

A corner of Harry's mouth twitched, "You bet."

"Alright, so whoever catches the snitch two times wins. Winner gets a butterbeer from the loser. Agreed?"

Harry shook his hand with Daniel.

"So the snitch is loose! And we wait ten seconds. Nine…Eight…Seven…Six…Five…Four…Three…Two…One…Last one off eats my arse!"

Harry just smiled. So far his brother has been a chatterbox. Not that Harry minded. At least it was someone not as obnoxious as Ron and not as detailed as Hermione. It's just… family. Shaking his head, Harry combed the skies for a glittering gold orb. There! Crap, it was right behind Daniel. So, Harry quickly accelerated to the other end of the pitch. Daniel, seeing that Harry was possibly going after the snitch, quickly followed Harry. Soon, they were nearly neck on neck when unexpectedly, Harry pulled backwards and promptly took the snitch from the air.

Harry : 1 Daniel : 0

After waiting another ten seconds, the two depart for the skies again. Daniel was diligently scanning the pitch and careful calculating before following his brother again. Harry was scanning the pitch too, albeit at a high height. That way, if the snitch was spotted on practically anywhere on the pitch, it was much faster to reach the snitch by virtually free-falling instead of accelerating towards it. And… there! Right below Harry was the fluttering snitch. Harry promptly dived and felt the constant whoosh of air from the sheer speed. Used to such, Harry never floundered or flinched on his descent. Daniel meanwhile looked on in shock on how Harry was playing. Never had he seen this side of Harry. And Daniel wasn't going to complain about it. Unbeknownst to Harry and Daniel, a pair of emerald eyes and a pair hazel eyes were watching them both.

"Would you look at that Lily! Our own little seeker hero!"

"Seriously James, is Quidditch and pranks all you think of our sons. Did you see him do that silent summoning charm?"

"Definitely dearest. We never even taught him and he does it without breaking a sweat! Definite auror material we have here."

"Good that you're broadening your horizons James. But who taught him to cast that in the first place?"

"I have no clue dear."

"Did you notice that Harry has been out of sorts today?"

"Yeah. Not playing him down, but didn't you remember he sucked at Quidditch and had mere magical prowess?"

"I don't know James. I don't know. You notice that when we were eating he spaced out a lot? And even better, when he read the acceptance letter, he looked beyond shocked. I know that letter is pretty important, but he already knows that he's getting the letter years ago. Why be so surprised? And right now as you see, he's handling powers beyond even adult wizards without a bat of his eye when he couldn't even lift a feather. Some things aren't adding up James."

"I agree Lily. But he can't be imperused right? His eyes aren't glazed."

"Yes James, but maybe an imposter? Can't be Polyjuice; he doesn't drink every hour."

"True dear. We'll keep an eye out though. Good thing we're going to Diagon next week. How about we bring him to the vault? If he's an imposter, the wards will reject him."

"I agree. Oh James, for such a brilliant idea, you deserve this."

**(Back to the pitch)**

Daniel managed to speak again, "That was wicked Harry! You got to teach me how to do that in the future."

"Sure thing Daniel. Can't taint the Potter name, right?" Harry replied.

"How about teaching me more about ma-" Daniel tried to say, but was interrupted by Harry.

"NO. Not yet Daniel. But in the meantime, you can do this." Harry said and pulled a yellow pebble out of his pocket.

"Focus on the rock and imagine it glowing red."

Daniel stared at the rock intently, but nothing happened, "It's not doing anything."

"That's because you haven't trained and know how to use your magical core. Don't worry, this isn't something that you aren't going to need to worry for a long time. But since you're so insistent, you can begin by simply trying to make the rock glow red." Harry said and at the same time, made the rock glow red.

Daniel was awed, "Wow. So if I do it right, that's what happens?"

"Yep. Remember though that if you can do that. STOP. Do not continue. Let me know so I can further help you. In the meantime, just keep practicing to make it second nature to make the rock glow red. Don't experiment because you don't know the consequences yet. You got that clear?"

Daniel merely nodded, "Can I try again now?"

Harry smiled, "Anytime. Just make sure you do this when you're in your room or alone; don't let our parents know."

"Why?"

"It's complicated Daniel, but please do so. You want to learn to cast wandless right?" Harry said.

Daniel nodded.

"Good, now let's get a shower because we can't show up to dinner like sweaty guinea pigs right?"

Daniel merely looked at Harry with a raised eyebrow.

"Don't worry, just get a shower."

Daniel left for the loo, but Harry stayed at the pitch. He closed his eyes and focused with a certain Supreme Mugwump and willed him to be turned to a hairy goat. Oh yeah! Add that bottle of Big Red relabeled with the machinations of Fred and George! That old goat isn't going to know what hit him. Even better, that potion was good ol' muggle soda!

**(WARNING! THE FOLLOWING PARAGRAPHS ARE JUST LEMON. I'LL FIX IT WHEN I REWRITE THIS.)**

**Meanwhile at Hogwarts, Headmaster's office**

Dumbledore was slowly sucking a lemon drop that he had just plopped into his mouth. Savoring the sour, bold lemony taste that never seemed to bore him, Dumbledore didn't feel a certain very important change. It wasn't until Dumbledore felt a desire to stick himself on any organism in the room did he start to panic. Fawkes quickly flamed outside of the office wishing to not have witnessed a century and a half old man furiously humping anything moving. To be short, the light creature couldn't stand the tainted actions of his master. Meanwhile in the office, Dumbledore barely managed to control the new desire with his Occulmency powers and decided to take a look in the mirror. WTF? How did he turn into a horned hairy mountain goat? On the table below the mirror, there was a bottle labeled, "The Big Red Horny Goat Potion, guaranteed to make your target turn into a horny goat! By H.J.P. ala Gred Forge!"

Who the hell is H.J.P?

"SEVERUS! I NEED YOU TO FIND AN ANTIDOTE FOR THIS POTION."

A low voice from outside the office that suspiciously sounded like "lemon drops" was heard and the sounds of stone grating was heard. The door to the headmaster's office then opened to welcome a greasy haired darkly clad man with a billowing robe strode in like an enlarged bat.

Immediately, the man cracked up and for the first time, Severus Snape had laughed to the point of expending his bowels. Snape was determined to find this H.J.P guy and thank him.

The ground was littered with various casualties of the short debactacle. An ant lay squished, a rabbit that was frozen by blunt trauma, a rat with a silver paw in a comatose state, and a toad that instantly became magical and starred in a Hollywood movie eighteen years later. And of course, there was a puddle of urine on the ground.

Severus quickly took the red colored bubbly potion off the table and swiftly strode out of the office, never to look back lest he started to crack up again. Dumbledore just sat on the chair and sighed. Taking another lemon drop, he sorely wished that the sourness may revert this madness. A mad chuckle fills the room and quickly disappears, further spooking the headmaster, which lowered his Occulmency barriers. Let the games begin…

Quirrell past the headmaster's office to check up on Dumbledore using Voldemort's special abilities and finds that the feared Light wizard was a… horny old goat. Voldemort, who controlled Quirrell, couldn't resist letting his cackle loose. Gotta give that guy who pranked Dumbledore a visit.

Professor McGonagall quickly strode to the headmaster's office. She needed to make sure that Neville Longbottom was going to Hogwarts and be in Gryffindor. And to do that, that means she was going to need to negotiate with the hat.

"Lemon drop!"

The gargoyle moved and McGonagall opened the door and she didn't imagine how feisty a hundred and fifty year old man can be.

**A/N:Thanks again for the support and thanks for reading. Expect an update sometime next week seriously and a longer chapter.  
**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Ok, I admit the end of the last chapter didn't really make sense and probably turned a lot of people away, but it's going to be semi-important later on. And no, I'm not trying to make a crackfic, I just wanted to find a way to tie some ends. If you didn't agree with the last chapter, that's fine because that's not what I usually do anyways.**

Dinner was a quaint affair with random conversations of no consequence. James, Sirius, and Remus were talking about past adventures, much to the enjoyment of Daniel, while Lily was trying to counter them. Harry just sat and listened in, not saying a word fearing that it may end and that it was all just a dream. But as the minutes go by, nothing disappeared and nothing changed. After finishing his dinner rather quickly and twiddling his thumbs for an hour, Harry excused himself to bed claiming that he needed to have a rest after not sleeping much last night. Before leaving, Harry hugged his mum.

"Goodnight mum."

And he never felt in his life the tenderness of maternal love. Never in his life was he loved when he was younger. The words freak and the images of the whips appeared unbidden in Harry's mind. All of this though were banished simply by the hug his mother gave him and a simple sentence.

"Goodnight sweetie."

Harry felt that if he were to hug her for too long, it might raise some eyebrows so he detached himself and went over to James and did the same. Now after waiting nineteen years, Harry finally felt the comforts of his parent's embrace. Certainly now, Harry had a patronus memory. Well, not the strongest since he has another stronger one. But still, Harry was pleased that finally life has given him something that he never had before. Going upstairs and into his room, he quickly put up a silencing charm and lay on the bed. Not too long ago, he was practically with no purpose in life; only with the goal of improving the British magical society as a whole. Now he had a family and a future to look to. Harry smiled and succumbed to the softness of the bed.

Godric's Hollow was quiet and no one was moving. That is, unless they were dreaming. Except for a certain emerald-eyed boy. It had become a ritual after Ginny's death; put a silencing charm in the room he was sleeping in and start screaming into the night of the agonies of war that haunted him. But today, they never came. Only new memories of his parents and his siblings dominated the realms of his dreams. Sighing contently, Harry slept on, blissfully unaware of his surroundings for once.

The days quickly went by as Harry connected with his family. It turns out that his mother was an expert curse-breaker and his father was a captain in the Auror corps. His brother was taking his father's footsteps and little Lily was acting as any toddler should. Well, except for the occasional burst of magic, but that's normal. Feeling proud of having such parents, Harry reminded himself that Voldemort was still most likely a threat. Seeing his siblings made Harry realize that Voldemort took more than just his parents from him; he took his whole meaning of life… and the power that Voldemort knows naught; the power of love. Harry realized that this time around, he was going to make sure that his family wasn't going to be harmed if he could help it. That means that he is going to need to make a plan. It isn't going to be overnight that Voldemort will be killed. It's going to take years and if done correctly, no one would be the wiser. Certainly Dumbledore needs to know nothing of this. That meddlesome manipulator would go all bonkers about this. Oh yeah… so did Voldemort get vanquished yet? Certainly not the way as his world as Harry no longer wears the scar that made him famous. So is there anyone? Harry decided he's going to need to get some information before he could plan. The day before they were going to leave for Diagon Alley, Harry decided to give Nicolas another visit.

_Foom!_

Nicolas was diligently working on a private project when his apprentice appeared in a flash of flame again.

Nicolas was peeved, "Harry! What did I tell you about arriving unannounced?"

Harry looked sheepish, "I thought that years ago you extended a warm hand and said that you-"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, now I'm regretting even telling you that. I mean, who wouldn't do that for a scrawny weak ickle ittle 'arry? Now you're different. Sometimes I seriously wished I didn't train you to be an animagus." Nicolas said.

Harry looked affronted, "What do you mean by ickle ittle 'arry? You decided I was enough to be your-"

Nicolas waved his hand, "Whatever. So what's the reason for your presence here? I told you; no training for now."

"Well, you see old coot, I just realized that I'm not the boy-who-lived in this dimension right?"

Nicolas gestured for Harry to continue.

"So I decided that I'm going to need to gather some information. Daily Prophet probably would be a start and maybe some books… and since you're conveniently here, you also."

Nicolas nodded, "Despite the hypocrisy and bias of the writers of those blasted articles, I agree. At least there is some grain of truth in those ruddy newspapers. I just wished that they were more factual and down to Earth. That reminds me, before I arrived here, I got this article. Feel free to keep it."

Nicolas pulls a paper from one drawer and hands it to Harry, who calmly looks at the paper dated July 14, 1999,

**WIZARDING SAVIOR ASSASINATED!**

**MALFOY IMPLICATED!**

Harry James Potter, recipient of the Order of Merlin and credited with destroying Voldemort, was found dead outside the grounds of Hogwarts early today. Another man was found dead near him, who has been suspected of being part of the plot to assassinate Mr. Potter. As of now, we have no further information on this mystery man however. Immediately after finding the body, the ministry has conducted a nation-wide investigation into this serious crime. Lucky for us, Mr. Draco Malfoy was found trying to burn various documents near the site of Mr. Potter's assassination. Ministry Aurors immediately apprehended Mr. Malfoy and found various documents detailing a contract with an assassin to kill Mr. Potter. Yes ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Malfoy paid and arranged the hit. Mr. Malfoy is now incarcerated in Azkaban in the highest security cell in the meantime for his trail. Rest assured readers that he will escape justice; the Malfoy fortune and assets have been seized and his accounts have been frozen. Furthermore, evidence implicates that Mr. Malfoy has executed numerous atrocities against muggles, who are being gathered for questioning as we speak. In the meantime before the trial, let us remember the man who has attempted to make all of Britain's wizards, witches, veelas, werewolves, vampires, centaurs, and magical creatures be treated fair and equal…

Harry decided to not continue reading the article and sighed. Why is it always that Malfoy couldn't keep his head out of trouble? Harry had gone to great lengths to help Malfoy from escaping the kiss in believing he would change. It's that "second chance" policy Dumbledore made for everybody. Although Harry himself didn't exactly adhere to that ideology, Harry felt that Malfoy had a chance to make a new life. But for all that trouble, Harry wasn't even rewarded with a Malfoy that could act his part; rather, he was returned with a literal stab in the back. Now that Harry couldn't protect Malfoy, he was actually relieved. That git never went beyond the teachings of his father and kept fostering that childhood rivalry. Now he deserves what he gets. Not to mention, Harry couldn't guilt-trip himself now. He's no longer there and at this point, Harry was certain Malfoy would get the kiss. Oh well, one less scum bag on that planet, now to worry about current affairs.

"So it was Malfoy that killed me in my uh previous life?" Harry asked.

"Yep. No doubt about it. He would have been incarcerated anyways; the crimes against muggles and use of unforgivables was enough to put him in Azkaban for life. The minister just needed to wait for the opportunity to arrest, which she got now. So are you going to keep the paper?"

Harry looked pensively at the paper and flicked his finger to burn it to ashes, "It's good to know justice was served, but to be honest, it doesn't concern me now. It's nice to know that I have a closure of my past life, but I got a new life to work on. Just put that past in a can and make a new history out of this. Who knows? Maybe I can finally see my own kids and grandkids and grow old one of these days."

Nicolas nodded in agreement, "Good to see that you're not getting wild ideas of going back. At this point, it's not impossible, but I already suspect that you wanted to live in this world right?"

Harry has an incredulous look, "What do you mean getting wild ideas of going back? Even if hell freezes over I'm going to stay here!

Nicolas had a hint of a smile, "Already protective of your newfound parents and siblings eh?"

Harry had the sense to bite back a retort.

Nicolas went to his "grandfather" mode, "It's alright Harry. After all you've been through, you deserve a second chance. Heck, sometimes even I wish to be young and carefree again. Cherish it! But enough of that, we already know that's going to be hard. I know you weren't here to banter about your past. You're here because you wanted to learn of what this past is right?"

Harry nodded, not one bit surprised.

"I don't need confirmation young man. You need to know anyways. As far as I have learned, you are just an ordinary joe; no one would be staring at you like at the old dimension. However, this dimension's Harry is relatively weak, even weaker than when you were starting Hogwarts. Now how are you still powerful? The answer lies in the method of us traveling to this dimension. Since we don't know how we are here, we don't know how the other things work, such as this case, your power and myself included. I suspect somehow you are under an extremely complex charm that's concealing your real magical core. How that charm is there, I don't know, but this will help us keep the prying eyes of the ministry and Dumbledore out and hopefully Voldemort too. As for myself, I'm powerful here anyways, so that doesn't matter." Nicolas said and stuck his tongue out at the end.

Harry smirked, "Very mature Nicky. But since I'm not the boy-who-lived here, who is?"

"Figure it out. I'll give you a hint, he was one of your friends with a long bottom."

Harry started thinking. A friend… that narrows down the list of many people. And a long bottom? Harry never appraised the bottoms of anybody, that's just wrong! Well, Harry only checked one particular red-headed one out…

"Do you think I'm that perverted you old coot?!"

Nicolas sadly sighed and wagged his index finger, "Harry, Harry, THINK. Use that grey matter in your skull! One, I'm not saying you're checking people out and thank goodness you're not checking on me or my dear Perenelle, though I'm flattered if you're complimenting. Two, I said a friend, so it's not necessary a girl. Three, you should really stop thinking like a horny teenager even though you are technically one or else some eyebrows are going to be raised. And four, I don't literally mean a long bottom."

Harry sat there looking dumbly at Nicolas for a few minutes.

"Fine! It's Neville Longbottom!"

Harry continued looking at Nicolas dumbly, "How?"

"So how are you the boy-who-lived in the old world?"

Harry countered, "That's not the point. Out of everybody, Neville is the boy-who-lived?"

Nicolas nodded, "Despite my slight feeling that it's not true, I've already checked. He's now in your shoes."

Harry took a double-take. Neville was a late-bloomer; not showing a lot of aptitude for anything until much later. When it came though, Harry was happy that Neville was his friend. But now, he was young. And if the past was anything to count by, Harry couldn't imagine Neville being under the spotlight. Realizing that the responsibility no longer rests on his shoulders, Harry decided that it was for the best. Let Dumbledore do his manipulating while Harry was making his own plans. Not that he didn't trust Dumbledore; it's just his manipulative nature wasn't going to help defeat Voldemort. Now that reminds Harry that this was even better. While the big players on both sides are working to train/defeat Neville, Harry can simply snipe from the sidelines. To do that, Harry decided he was going to need to first disrupt the plans for the Sorcerer's Stone. Then he can start a limited Horcrux hunt; enough to help shorten the time for the defeat of Voldemort, but without raising suspicion especially when he was only a first year. Anyways, he needed the Basilisk fangs to destroy the Horcruxes, so Harry decided this first year was going to be a rather laid back one.

"Now that you know some history of this world, I think you can go from there Harry. And no, I'm not going to help you. You already know what to do. And what's the fun of the master doing everything for the apprentice in the first place?" Nicolas spoke when he felt Harry had enough time to think.

Harry knew that he was well capable of doing this, "Yeah, whatever _old coot_. So anything else changed here?"

Nicolas shook his head, "Not really. The Longbottoms were killed in the same manner as your parents were, which is just the same fate as the comatose ones we had in our world. Neville is still raised by Augusta, however, that's all there is. Random snippets of information afterwards is all we have that won't pertain to our search. We can deduce though that he won't be the same as his old counterpart considering he has fame now and much more attention paid to him, not to mention, not having abusive relatives like in your situation. Well, if you count Sirius being alive and well, you can count that as a difference, but that's about it for the major picture."

Harry drank on the information and decided he was going to be ready for whatever comes. Somehow, he felt he was missing something vital. Oh well, "I'll remember that. Now that we have some premise of the past here, anything else of note?"

Nicolas shook his head again and pulled a bottle of Firewhiskey and two small glasses from a drawer, neatly filling both in a blink of an eye, "Not that I know of right now." Nicolas hands a glass to Harry, "A toast perhaps?"

Harry agreed, "To a good future!"

Nicolas added, "And for a lovely wife! Here, here!"

Harry briefly glared at Nicolas in annoyance and they clinked their glasses and downed the contents. Being used to the taste and feeling, they both weren't heavily affected.

Nicolas took the glass back, "Now, now Harry, just a shot for now. Don't be getting ideas; if I didn't know who you really were, I would have toasted you on the spot for drinking that if the side effects weren't enough. Now get out before Perenelle decides to show up and cut my head for letting an eleven year old toast with this old man. Oh yeah, can you-"

Harry, sensing someone was coming, cut him off, "Mutally agreed Nicky!"

_Foom!_

"-leave in a normal humanly fashion? I guess not." Nicolas sighed, slumped on his chair, and immediately shot straight back up when a shrill screech filled the room.

"NICOLAS! WHAT DID I TELL YOU ABOUT DRINKING FIREWHISKEY?!"

**A/N: Next chapter is coming in probably two days, thanks as always for reading.**


	5. Chapter 5 - Diagon Alley

**(The next day)**

Harry couldn't believe that it was already the time to go to Diagon Alley. It was only how long again? A week and a half ago that he was a leader of sorts and now he's a child again… with parents and siblings. Not that Harry complained; it's just that he's got to relive another seven years of Hogwarts which, to his opinion, is a waste yet is a sort of blessing. Who gets the chance to go to Hogwarts twice? Following his parents and siblings going into Gringotts, he remembered that he had more than enough to cover for himself. But if he was to pay for his stuff, that will raise a red flag. Where did he get the money? Allowance isn't going to cut because apparently, the old Harry had spent every Knut he got, so Harry decided to let his parents eat the cost for now, although Harry vowed to pay them back in the future when the time was right. It came to a surprise to Harry when James asked Harry if he wanted to visit the family vault. Of course, Harry agreed. James then motioned for Lily, Daniel, and little Lily to stay. Harry was puzzled. Why? Shouldn't the whole family visit the vault? Shrugging the thought off, Harry followed James who followed a goblin to a cart and descended through a series of twists and turns. Stopping at a certain vault after a ride that felt like a couple minutes, the goblin motioned for James and Harry to approach the vault. At this point, the goblin simply waited next to the cart. James motioned for Harry to go to the vault first.

"You see that hand imprint on the wall son? Simply place you hand on there and wait for it to glow green." James said.

Harry walked up and did as he was told. A slight prick was felt on his ring finger, but the sensation quickly dissipated. When the wall glowed green, Harry stepped back and inspected his finger to find no sign of any disturbance. The vault slowly opened to let forth to the observer part of the Potter fortune along with various priceless artifacts, tomes, and various enchanted objects. While Harry was looking at everything with awe, James was inwardly relieved. If the Potter vault accepted Harry, that means he's truly James' son. But still, the nagging feeling that something wasn't right still ate at James. Harry was simply too confident and firm, and something in his eyes that bespoke of hardships beyond his age seemed to be permanently etched into those glowing emerald orbs. Simply accepting the fact that Harry was just Harry, James decided that it was for the best. Who had the chance of a son with wandless and silent casting abilities at the tender age of eleven anyways?

Harry never set foot into the Potter vault back in the old world simply because he didn't want to face any of his past at the time. Now, standing there, Harry was berating himself for denying the opportunity to do so. Priceless tomes and books were neatly lined on bookshelves that looked to be hand made. If they were such, they had to be dated hundreds of years ago, possibly longer. Harry couldn't imagine what Hermione would react to this and Harry inwardly smirked. He was definitely going to let Hermione help herself out with this collection one of these days. But that was not now. Now was to collect copies and inspect them later. While Harry was processing all he was seeing, James cut his line of thought.

"Feel free to take a look around. But remember, DO NOT touch anything. Some of these things have been simply sitting here passed from generation to generation and we don't know if they have curses or traps. Not to mention, most of these objects and books are things you can't handle until you're older. While you're looking at things, I'll be doing some cleaning." James told Harry.

Harry obediently nodded, but started planning. Harry didn't need the sword or armor that lay around; Godric Gryffindor's sword was good enough and the Basilisk armor made from the slain Basilisk was already more protection than the metal plates lying around. Not to mention, the assortment of muggle weapons Harry had would most likely tip the balance in a struggle. Harry then looked at the various portraits, trinkets, and artifacts lying around. Nope, they weren't of interest at this point, especially if Hufflepuff's cup wasn't here; not that Harry was expecting it here. Harry finally looked at the various tomes and old books that were neatly lined up on a couple bookshelves. Taking a quick glance at his father, Harry quickly took the trunk in his pocket out and expanded it. Quickly taking his wand, Harry furiously pointed at every book as quick as he can muttering _Liber effing_. Quickly, Harry had a bookshelf full of copies sitting on the floor. Harry glances back at James and did the same for the other two bookshelves. Finishing his copying, Harry quickly banished the books into the second compartment. After making sure all the copies were secure, Harry locked the trunk, shrunk it, and snuck it back into his pocket. Walking up to James, Harry said, "I finished looking around Dad."

James nodded, "Just finished son. Let's get back up."

After another winding and twisting ride, James and Harry reunited with the rest of the family and walked outside to start shopping for Harry's school supplies.

James quickly looked through the list that Hogwarts had sent.

"Hmm... ok so what we will be needing to purchase is… your uniform, books, a wand and a pet. We have a bunch of crystal phials at home so we won't need that nor the cauldron nor the telescope. The brass scales should be laying somewhere around, so cross that out too. "James said, directed at Harry.

Harry wasn't looking forward to the shopping, but supposed that it was necessary, "Sure Dad, how about we go to Flourish & Botts first? Then we can go to Madame Malkins to get the uniforms and we'll go from there."

James agreed, although a little bit noncommintantly, "Sure thing son."

Daniel meanwhile wasn't exactly pleased they were going to a bookstore for a first stop. Little Lily was virtually clueless and simply bounded around and immersing herself intp all of the strange surroundings. Lily was beaming with joy that Harry wasn't going to exactly follow his father's footsteps. Rounding around a corner, the store appeared. Various witches and wizards milled about, minding their own thoughts and business. It was a certain bushy haired girl though that caught Harry's attention. She was browsing through some books. Harry ran saying," I want to check the books out first!"

James simply said, "Ok!" and followed Harry, albeit at a much slower pace. By the time Harry was at the bookstore, a good couple blocks was between his family and Harry. Seeing the chance, Harry decided to talk to the girl, who was reading "The Standard Book of Spells, Year 1."

"Hey there, already looking through our spell work for the year?" Harry asked.

The girl shot up and breathed a sigh of relief, "Oh! You scared me! Yeah, I'm just going through." the girl said and quickly shut the book.

Seeing the girl was quickly getting ready to leave, Harry said, "What's wrong?"

The girl looked at Harry, "It's just that no one seems to appreciate that I read and they think I'm some stuffy person. Why are you talking to me anyways?"

"I'm going to Hogwarts this year and seeing that you're about my age and checking out a first year book, I think it's safe to assume you're going to Hogwarts this year. So my name is Harry Potter, yours?"

The girl replied, "Hermione Granger. I guess I'm pleased to meet you." and stuck a stiff arm out in an attempt to shake her hand with Harry.

Harry simply put her hand down, "Hermione, you don't need to look like a robot to shake hands with a person. Do it like this." and Harry fluidly swished his hand up, caught Hermione's hand, and kissed her hand lightly.

Hermione blushed a little, "I suppose so Harry, though do you expect me to kiss every time I shake my hand with another person?"

"No, no, no, no! Just do it to for formal purposes. Don't want to be cowering to any of those bigoted pure-blood wizards right? Especially when they treat you like dirt!"

Hermione looked suspiciously at Harry, "What do you mean by bigoted pure-blood wizards? Aren't you a pure-blood yourself?"

"Despite me being a Potter, I'm a half-blood."

Hermione nodded, "I see… I guess it's safe to say that I'm a mudblood as the wizarding world terms it."

A brief episode of silence and then Harry shrugged, "And?"

Hermione scrutinized Harry, "And you don't have a problem with that?"

"No way! The wizarding world is already as biased as it is; I'm hoping to do my part. Who knows? Little things add up right? Enough of this talk, how about being friends?"

Hermione continued scrutinizing Harry, "Sure, though I swear I remember you from somewhere."

Harry focused on keeping himself from jumping for joy or reacting to her statement, but the thought Hermione might have remembered was soon squashed.

"Nevermind, the other boy had blonde hair."

Harry shrugged, "Oh, so you still want to be friends?"

Hermione replied, "Sure Harry. Hope I meet up with you at Hogwarts."

Harry saw his family was coming, so he hastily excused himself, "Cool, see you around Hermione. Meet you at Kings Cross! Oh, you might want to keep this. I already paid for it."

Before Hermione could reply, Harry quickly conjured a copy of "Hogwarts, a History," gave it to Hermione, and rushed to the other side of the bookstore. Hermione held onto the book and her eyes followed the boy that she had just befriended until he disappeared around a bookshelf and she smiled. Things were starting to look up already and she wasn't even a couple hours in the wizarding world. Hermione opened the book and quickly engrossed herself into it.

Harry silently cursed himself. He was no longer independent at this point and he needed to be more careful in the future; can't be slipping things around if he wanted some peace and quiet. Harry quickly pulled the books that he needed into a neat stack and put them on the counter when his family finally arrived.

James was the first to talk, "Done already Harry?"

Harry nodded, "Yeah Dad, just finished gathering all the school books."

Daniel looked at the stack half-heartedly, "So when I go to Hogwarts I need to read all of _that_?"

Harry evilly grinned, "Yep. And every year, the stack gets taller! Even better, there's a greasy bat as a teacher and a really old, grouchy cat!"

Daniel looked split between loving the idea of going to Hogwarts and loathing it at the same time. Harry, sensing his brother's indecision, leaned in and whispered, "If you want to learn wandless magic, you're going to need to go to school you know. And don't forget the Quidditch team."

Daniel immediately made his mind up and didn't further comment. Little Lily just giggled and pointed at the moving pictures on the books that littered the store, oblivious to the happenings on Earth. Harry was still struck by the sheer naivety of his sister, but shrugged it off. While this was happening, James already paid for the books, shrunk them, and stuck them into his pocket. Seeing no reaction from Harry, James said, "Let's go, we don't need to stay here."

No one needed further prompting to get out and they walked to Madam Malkins to buy some uniforms.

**(After an hour of fitting and choosing…)**

After finishing most of the shopping, all Harry had left to do was to buy his "wand" and getting a pet. Walking out of Madame Malkins, he spotted a young boy and an old lady singled out by a passerby who shouted, "Hey everybody, it's Neville Longbottom!" And with that, a flurry of people and admirers flocked around them; cameras quickly flashing. How the hell are those reporters so quick? Turning around, Harry was inwardly rejoicing. No more of the press on his back! Now to getting a pet… Harry walked into the same store he bought Hedwig and it wasn't a surprise the snowy owl was there. With everyone else checking out the various creatures, Harry didn't need a second thought. Walking up to "Hedwig," it didn't take long for the owl to hoot and land on his shoulders. Again, the shopkeeper was amazed like last time and Harry left the shop fifteen Galleons less with a bag of owl treats and a snowy owl in tow.

Walking outside he whispered to the owl, "Remember me Hedwig?"

The owl blinked and nodded, "Hoot!"

Good, so somehow the owl remembered him. Harry slowly scratched at her favorite spot, earning Harry a soft coo from the owl.

"Now go home Hedwig, it's Godric's Hollow now. And yes, it's much better there, plenty of owl treats and friends. No more bullies and freaks."

"Hoot hoot!"

And with that, she flew off, probably to stretch her wings. Now it was time to get a wand. Or rather, to get a wand to avoid suspicion. Harry waited outside until his parents and his brother and sister came out.

James was fairly excited that his eldest son was getting his wand, "You ready to get your wand son?"

Harry smiled, "Yes Dad, been waiting all along."

"Good! Let's head over there. Lily, could you show Daniel and Lily around? I'm going to help Harry buy his wand."

Lily nodded and turned the two siblings to a shop nearby, "Sure sweetie. Come along now children."

Little Lily was ecstatic to possibly have her way, "Lily wanna ic kwem! Pwease!"

Daniel simply smiled.

Lily spoke to little Lily, "Now, now sweetie, we have to wait for Dad and Harry."

"But mum! I wan ic kwem now!" Lily pouted and gave a cute look.

Harry, looking on, shook his head at his sister's antics and wondered if he would be like that if he was little. Going back to his situation, he looked at James and said, "Let's go! I can't wait to get my wand!"

James groaned, "Not you too!"

"Hey, you said we're going to buy a wand for me right? That's totally different from begging! You actually wanted me to go!" Harry said.

James smiled, "Just kidding son. I wasn't any better than you when I waited for my first wand."

So Harry and James headed towards Ollivander's shop. Before walking inside, he heard something that made his gears in his mind roll, "…I remember every single wand I've ever sold, Mr. Longbottom. It so happens that the phoenix whose tail feather is in your wand, gave another feather — just one other. It is very curious indeed that you should be destined for this wand when its brother gave you that scar."

After some more hushed discussion, Neville left along with Augusta. Harry silently cursed himself. It was that wand that he had gone through so many scrapes and life and death situations. Yes, he still had the wand and even the Elder Wand for the matter, but how can he use the phoenix core or the Elder Wand at Hogwarts without anyone noticing? Holding the Elder Wand was sure to catch VERY unwanted attention, not to mention using it. Harry then realized that he didn't even stab a chance at acquiring a wand yet, so he was wasting time just deliberating by himself and making James wonder what Harry was thinking. Harry took a deep breath and walked into the shop.

"Hello there." Ollivander said out of the shadows and walked to Harry. Instead of having the daylights scared out of Harry, he just impassively noted, "Nice weather today Mr. Ollivander?"

James was taken aback by the laid back attitude Harry was displaying. James remembered how he nearly shot through the roof when he was first here.

Ollivander replied, "Indeed son, indeed. Now what can I do for you today?"

"I need to buy a wand."

At this point, Ollivander looked at James, "Could I borrow your son for a bit? I need to do some measurements on this young lad."

James was puzzled, "Sure."

Immediately, Ollivander led Harry to a room in the back of the shop and set up privacy and silencing charms.

"Now Harry, or I mean ahem, the Harry Potter that is the Order of Merlin recipient, Supreme Mugwu-"

Harry immediately set caution to the winds, but could only say one word, "What?", unconsciously cutting Ollivander off midsentence.

Ollivander smiled, "I know who you really are Harry Potter. It just so happens that I know of your little travel to here. Heh, you deserve it lad, however unpleasant the method to travel was, but it's worth it. Yes, I know you acquired the brother of Voldemort's wand back in the other world. Still remember it today, the holly wand with a phoenix core, eleven inches, nice and supple along with your young face awed by the display of magic. I assume you just heard that Neville got that one too right?"

Harry nodded.

Ollivander leaned closer and whispered cryptically, "I still expect great things from you young lad. Just because the responsibility is no longer on your shoulders is no excuse for not partaking in lessening the chaos that the years will bring. Remember that this is a different world, so there will be different prophesies and rules."

Harry nodded.

Ollivander stood back up, spoke in a louder voice, and started pacing back and forth, "So what else are you here for Harry? I suspected that your father didn't know your identity and that was the reason why I left him out of the discussion."

Harry said, "No, I just need a wand, although I was wishing to continue using my old wand."

Ollivander chuckled, "I expected no less of you young man. Now here is a training wand that I have lying around."

Ollivander stopped his pacing, pulled a wand out of his pocket, and handed Harry an eleven inch wand that looked almost identical to Harry's old wand.

"This should do for you. Remember to swap this out for your real wand when you have the chance. Can't have you pointing a useless stick at a Death Eater eh?"

Harry felt the wand. Sure, it felt about the same, but it didn't have the sense of power and warmth as with his old wand and the feeling of magic was missing. Harry then realized how Ollivander was giving him a chance to keep his wand and seeing how the training wand was so identical to the old one; clearly Ollivander was planning this day already. Ollivander was going to help Harry keep the old wand by pulling the wool over everyone else's eyes.

Harry emanated a sense of gratitude and smiled, "Thank you Mr. Ollivander. I wouldn't know how I could have resumed using my old wand around here."

"No problem lad. I assume that you wanted your old wand anyways because you are technically of age right?"

Harry nodded.

"Don't worry. I know my trade. You should be able to use your old wand with no problem. The charms were lifted the minute you were seventeen and they don't come back."

Thankful for the priceless gesture, Harry decided to give Ollivander something he had been meaning to when he was in the old world, "Mr. Ollivander, I didn't thank you for the wand when I acquired it and you had perished before I could properly thank you. What you did back then and just now will forever have my gratitude. So I have asked Fawkes and he has agreed to give you a further two more feathers."

Harry pulls two phoenix feathers from his pocket and hands it to Ollivander. The ancient wandmaker at first refused, "Lad, I know that you are thankful of my actions, but consider ridding of Voldemort as compensation for my services back then and now."

Harry shook his head, "Take it."

"You know how much wandmakers would pay to acquire phoenix feathers right?"

Harry acknowledged the fact, "Yes, I know that I could make a little fortune so, but I fully intend to give these feathers for you to craft into wands. If you don't take it, I'll be forced to burn them,. Fawkes only intended for you to use and craft these as he sees you as a man fit to do the job. So either you accept them or they go to waste."

Ollivander gingerly picked the two feathers up and beamed with joy, "You have no idea how you made this old man feel the pleasure of crafting wands again. For that, you have my thanks and I am honored to have Fawkes choose me as the maker."

Harry decided he needed to leave; Ollivander was going to be in his own little world anyways, "Again, thank you Mr. Ollivander and may your business prosper."

Ollivander by then was already walking away and looking through his supplies to craft two new wands. Harry sighed; it sounds like Harry wasn't going to be able to ask Ollivander how he remembered the Harry Potter that saved the wizarding world… twice. Harry lifted the privacy and silencing charms and met outside with his father.

James was impatiently pacing when Harry went outside of the room and immediately beamed seeing Harry holding the wand, "You got your wand son?"

Harry looked ecstatic, "Yeah Dad, and can you believe how amazing it feels when you have a wand that suits you?"

James chuckled, "Yes son, when you have the right wand, amazing things can happen. More amazing things will happen when you know how to use it. Now that we have the wand, how much do we need to pay?"

Harry was slightly stumped, but immediately thought of an excuse, "Oh, I still had two galleons after we bought all the stuff so I gave that to Mr. Ollivander."

James looked incredulous, "Just two galleons for the wand?"

"Yes Dad… Just two galleons."

At that point, Ollivander walked to them with a face of concentration.

"Go, go! I need to do some important things."

After both Harry and James were unceremoniously pushed outside of the wand shop, the door shut and Ollivander flipped the sign so it read "Closed for the day."

James looked at the shop window and then scanned the crowds for Lily muttering, "I can never understand that old man."

Harry simply kept a straight face and acted like a confused child, having fully known the reason why Ollivander was busy.

"What?"

James looked back at Harry, "Oh nothing son. Just looking for mum, brother and sister."

**(A couple hours later, back at Godric's Hollow)**

Harry sat on his bed, thinking over of what he was going to do this year. Definitely going to knock Malfoy a peg or two was on the list. Flamel's stone though was more important. Harry decided he didn't know if this time around Voldemort was going to try even earlier than last time so it was safe to do it as soon as he could. After that, Harry could go ahead and start building his physical strength and stamina. Apparently the old Harry only did some running around, enough to keep the fat off but nowhere near what Harry used to have. Harry didn't expect to be running miles on end without stopping this young, but he was needing at least enough stamina to effectively dodge curses in a lasting duel. Going to the next part on his agenda, Harry remembered he needed to swap the training wand for his real wand. Pulling out the trunk from his pocket, he set it next to the trunk his father gave to him to use for Hogwarts. Knowing he couldn't twiddle his thumbs while at Hogwarts, Harry disillusioned his trunk to look like the trunk his father gave him. Shrinking the new trunk, Harry put it in his old trunk. After getting that out of the way, Harry made sure he had everything he needed. A library? Check. A potion lab? Check. A wardrobe for no particular reason? Check. A training room? Check. Well, he really didn't need the training room because of the Room of Requirements, but Harry decided it wouldn't hurt keeping it there for now. Harry, mentally double checking everything, was satisfied that he had enough to keep himself busy for the coming school year and shifted the compartments so that only one compartment would show in the case that anybody managed to open it, as unlikely as it is. If they did open it, they would only see some books, various first year supplies, and some clothing. If they were powerful enough, some questions were going to be raised, but who was going to raid a first year trunk anyways? Closing the trunk, Harry erected the wards for it again and activated the muggle alarm. One of the few things that the Weasley twins helped society in a way that didn't have to do with pranks. Perfecting the art of channeling magic to power muggle devices, they were tinkers to the core. Well, that's something for another day. Harry left the trunk near his bed and fell back onto the bed, idly tracing imaginary patterns with his fingers. Reveling in the feeling of warmth and security, he slipped into the realms of dreams and red-heads.

**_ A/N_****: And here ends another chapter. So what do you think? Good, bad, or just plain barking mad? Thanks for reading and as always, constructive criticism is always appreciated. Thanks for the support, already passing 1k hits!  
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**I'm going to take a deep breath and say that the next chapter is coming sometime next week.  
**

**Oh yeah, one more thing, I'm not British or had the time to learn about the British dialect, so don't expect this fic to adhere to British ways.  
**


	6. Year 1 - On to Hogwarts

It was the crack of dawn when the emerald eyed teen started his day. Today though wasn't just any other day, it was the day that he was going to arrive at Platform 9 3/4… again. Memories of how he had first arrived there struck Harry like a train. A bumbling razor thin fool with a scar to support his soul wandering around until a family of red-heads showed him the way. One of them though later showed him more things than just how to get to the train like how it's like being ridden - STOP HARRY. Harry shook his head to rid of the thoughts. It's not the same world! But oh, the joys… Harry's morning ahem…, dreaming, was interrupted when Hedwig hooted and Fawkes was flashing everywhere in a form of an alarm clock that was flashily annoying. Well, Harry just hoped one of these days he wasn't burned. Opening his eyes, he quickly pulled Fawkes into his arms and slowly stroked his feathers, calming the phoenix down. After seeing the phoenix was ok, he let him go, who disappeared to go foraging somewhere. Hedwig meanwhile was getting indigent that she wasn't getting attention from Harry this morning. Hooting more forcefully, she glared at Harry. Harry, who was looking for his uniform, felt the presence of a pair of amber eyes forcibly boring into his back. Turning around, he quickly reached for the owl treats sitting near his bed. Quickly pointing at the bowl of water, he filled it up. Hedwig still hooted and Harry gingerly gave her one owl treat at a time. After consuming a couple of owl treats and "accidentally" nipping Harry's hand occasionally, she still hooted. Looking at the bottom of the cage, Harry quickly banished the droppings. Hedwig at this point was no longer complaining and closed her eyes. Harry stroked a particular patch of feathers that soothed Hedwig, earning him soft cooing noises from the owl. A soft cough interrupted Harry's ministrations and the owl snapped her eyes open to glare at the new comer. Unfortunately, the lady of the household was not one to be intimidated.

Lily smiled at the scene, "So Harry, it seems like your owl has you wrapped around her finger already."

Hedwig hooted indigently and continued to stare at Lily.

Harry impishly grinned, "I guess so Mum, I mean, who wouldn't?"

Lily laughed lightly, causing Harry's thoughts to grind to a halt. The laugh was so _wonderous_ with lack of words to justify it. Its purity was beyond what Harry could imagine. It was the laugh of _his_ mother. His _real _mother as sad as he had to admit it, was the first time he heard it. Shoving the thought away, Harry shooed his mother out of his room,

"Mum, I need to get changed!"

Shutting the door, Harry put locking charms on the door and breathed a sigh of relief. If Fawkes had not decided to flash out minutes ago, he would be in for a long explanation why he had a phoenix around, even more when they learned it was his familiar or rather one of his familiars. Seeing the coast was clear, Harry decided he needed to plan more, which unfortunately, had fallen on Ron's shoulders back then. Now Harry was forced to continually change his plans. Deciding that the best was for Fawkes to be hidden was to disillusion him, which Harry made a mental note to do so when Fawkes appeared especially at home or at Hogwarts. A clatter of dishes downstairs pulled Harry back to reality and Harry hastily had magic change his clothes. Harry realized though that magic had its limitations; how was he going to change his boxers?

After Harry changed his clothes into a Hogwarts attire, Harry stepped out of his room to be greeted by a little red blur.

"Good monin Hawwy!"

Harry smiled and ruffled the hair of the little girl teasingly,

"Good morning Lily. You ready for breakfast!"

Lily bobbled her head up and down,

"Lily is weady fo bweakfast!"

Lily then stuck her hands upwards. Harry lifted the little girl on his shoulders and walked down the stairs with the little passenger on his shoulders. He opened the dining room door half expecting to see a pair of freak proclaiming adults and a fat tub of lard of a boy, but gratefully saw a silently humming mother, a news reading father, and a brother who couldn't seem to stop his obsession with Quidditch.

Daniel was the one to first notice his presence, "You're late for breakfast, _again_ Harry."

Harry shrugged, "It's not something I'll die over for."

Daniel smirked, "You sure? What if I said that you won't be getting breakfast from now on?"

Harry rebutted, "Fine. Would it matter to you?"

Daniel kept his stance, "Nope, wouldn't bother me a bit and because you're late, you're not getting breakfast."

At that point, their mother slapped a steaming hot plate of pancakes, bacon, and eggs on the table for Harry.

Harry lightly punched his brother, "Brat."

Daniel happily returned the favor, "Punce."

Harry rolled his eyes and gave a forceful shove, "Cheeky bugger."

**(An hour later…)**

Harry had wondered ever since the first day he clapped his eyes on Platform 9 ¾ what it would be like to have his parents bring him and show him the way. And Harry, now years from his real youth, was flung back in time and how having his wished granted; albeit years late. Riding in a muggle sedan, Harry had stowed his trunk in the trunk. James was currently driving or rather, attempting to avoid traffic with Lily hollering how she was more qualified than he was to get from point a to b without a hitch. Little Lily just giggled at the swerving the car was doing and Daniel's eyes were filled with glee. Yep, definitely something Harry wanted to see every time he had the chance. After an indeterminable length of time of swerving and stopping, the car came to a screeching halt in a parking lot. Quickly, Harry hopped out and grabbed his trunk. When the family assembled outside of the car, James was the first to speak, "So how was my driving?"

Lily was positively mortified, "You called that driving? That was insane!"

James put his hands up in mock surrender, "What do you mean Lil's? I only lost the rearview mirror!"

Lily gestured at the numerous missing and damaged parts on the car, "Exactly! How can you lose a mirror _in a car_? And look, the front bumper is missing the right half because you rammed into a street pole, both side mirrors were gone when you tried to order some coffee at Starbucks, and don't even tell me about the rear! Next time I'm driving and there's no buts."

James sighed in defeat, "Alright, alright. But I tried didn't I?"

This served to further fuel Lily's temper.

**(After a couple minutes of hollering)**

James and Lily resumed their normal ways and led the children through the train station. Assuming it was the first time Harry was here, James led Harry to the wall that was the portal to Platform 9 ¾.

"You see that wall son? It's the doorway to Platform ¾. Now I want you to fully brace yourself and run into the wall. Don't worry; you're not going to actually run into a wall."

Harry didn't need a second thought and ran through the portal. James, Daniel, Lily, and little Lily soon followed suit.

It was the same as Harry had remembered; the milling of wizards and witches directing their children at the train and there was the train itself. Just a shiny black locomotive billowing steam out that bespoke of its age. And who said age mattered? Harry looked around seeing if he could find any familiar faces, but saw none. Slightly disappointed, Harry turned to his family,

"Well, I guess this is it guys."

James nodded, "We'll miss you Harry."

Daniel added, "Yeah, definitely it's going to be boring without you around and only having little Lily to accompany me!"

Little Lily was crying at this point, "Hawwy not like Lily no moa?"

Harry hugged the little girl, "Hush Lily, I'm only going to school. I'll visit you during the holidays and I'll be back during the summer. I'm not leaving forever Lily."

"But Lily no wanna Hawwy go!"

Harry got a little torn himself, but his Occulmency bared the emotion from leaving his mind. Continually patting and reassuring little Lily, he looked at his mother for help. Nodding, she took Lily into her arms and rocked her to sleep.

"I'll miss you son."

Harry nodded, "Me too mum."

And with that, Harry hugged his Mum as if his life depended on it. A whistle blared, warning that it was soon to leave. Reluctantly pulling himself away from his mother, he repeated the process with his father. By then, the warming whistle blared. Harry hurriedly got his trunk and waved goodbye,

"See you guys at Christmas! And Daniel, keep out of trouble!"

And with that, Harry quickly swam through the crowd. Seeing a group of red-heads at the front of the train, Harry's heart leapt when he saw Ginny again. There she was; no different from the day he first clapped his eyes on her. Well, as normal looking as a ten-year old looked; not a young woman. Harry's heart though was quickly torpedoed when he saw Ginny was staring listlessly at a particular boy. Those eyes filled with hearts and arrows directed at no other than Neville Longbottom. His heart sinking at a ferocious rate, Harry salvaged himself by slapping himself in the face, earning him some questioning looks. Not caring what people thought of his rash action, Harry was more depressed about something else. How could he conveniently forget about a very crucial fact? Harry was no longer the boy-who-lived. And naturally, since Ginny was after the boy-who-lived, Harry was no longer on her radar. Harry's previous depression finally caught up when he realized this. Damn this ickle fate. Harry averted his glaze from Ginny and used Occulmency to calm himself. Schooling a bland expression, he boarded the train. The squabble of students from various years milled about the compartments, slowly settling themselves into a cabin they felt was full of their friends or was friendly enough. A throng of students though clustered at the front of the train; undoubtedly wanting to get a glimpse of the boy-who-lived. Harry shook his head; it wasn't even that bad back when he started. Pulling himself further down the train, he found a quaint silent cabin. Stowing his trunk away in a compartment above, he settled himself at a seat next to the window. Harry quietly tapped his wand on the wall while he waited for the train to depart. Slowly drumming himself to a nap, Harry was awoken by the door opened. Silently cursing, Harry tensed himself and prepared for a clashing of words. It was no other than Hermione.

"Umm, is it ok for me to be in this compartment?" she asked timidly, apparently unnerved by a wand sticking at her head..

Harry relaxed himself and said, "Sure thing Hermione."

She then looked at Harry little more carefully, "Oh, sorry Harry! I was just busy you know looking for a compartment-"

"For Merlin's sake, don't worry! What are friends for anyways?" Harry said along with a disarmingly charming smile and slipped his wand in his invisible wand holster on his arm.

She giggled a little, "Yeah, yeah, but could you be a dear and give me a hand here?"

Remembering how heavy her trunk was, Harry was ready for the weight and quite easily stowed it away. Holding her hand, Harry led her to a seat, "Make yourself comfortable Hermione, what was in your trunk anyways?"

She sheepishly looked away, "Books."

Harry made Hermione look at him in the eyes, "Look Hermione, don't worry about what others think. I learned that those people are just like boggarts; constantly shifting. They go from one fad to another; and right now, being a bookworm isn't going to land you in a popular spot. But you know what? Fuck it. Don't give a shite about what people think, do what you feel is right. Don't let people restrict how you live. What is the point of life if you can't live it? And you know what I think of you? I think that you're going to be a brilliant witch who actually took the time to educate herself and advance herself beyond her peers."

Hermione nodded and hugged Harry. That was when Harry decided that he was going to make this Hermione a much more confident one. She was an extremely bright witch; only hampered by her self-doubt. Harry knew that this time around, he was going to make sure that wasn't going to happen again. Feeling the wetness on his shirt, he realized how he had impacted Hermione.

"Thank you, you have no idea how much that means to me." she whispered. Blushing slightly, she gave Harry a quick peck on his cheek and sat back on the seat. Harry was momentarily stunned. Hermione NEVER kissed anybody until she was much older. Harry smiled though in realization; things were going to move as planned.

The train finally started to move and quickly started to travel some distance. Meanwhile, the silence in the cabin was palpable. Hermione busied herself into her copy of "Hogwarts, a History," while Harry was staring out the window; remembering one time when Hermione and him were pitted against greater odds. Not that they were short of such encounters, but this was the first that they were in. Thanks to her vast intellect and knowledge of both magical and muggle ways, they survived.

_Harry knew of the ambush that was coming. Voldemort had been rumored to slip a spy in the Order but Harry just needed to confirm that was true._

_Harry held his wand tightly and assessed his opponents. To his side, Hermione was doing exactly the same thing. A dozen death eaters were counted to boot with only a handful that they could recognize._

_A mad cackle filled the air, the owner was no other than Bellatrix Lestrange, "Little boy, little boy. How foolish you are. My master would be most displeased at how… uneventful it was to capture you. He was expecting more from you little boy."_

_Hermione whispered into Harry's ear, "Do what you need to do, but hurry it up or else we'll be cut down."_

_Harry rolled his eyes. Leave it to Hermione to analyze everything even with Death leering at them._

_"So what do you suggest we do?" _

_She grinned wolfishly, "We'll fight." and at the same time, she activated an alarm for the Order to arrive._

_Harry smiled, "How Gryffindor of you." _

_"Why thank you."_

_Bellatrix cackled, interrupted their little talk, "Last words between each other? Ew! Potter, you have no idea how bad it is associating yourself with that mudblood." she said and spat at the end._

_Harry retorted, "No better than you inbreeds who find your sisters and brothers as romantic interests you freak!"_

_Bellatrix stopped cackling and held her wand out, "For that little boy, you're going to feel it! CRUCIO!"_

_Harry knew it was coming. The agonizingly slow beam of red pain sailed towards Harry. Instead of bending down in pain and screaming his lungs out, Harry deftly caught the curse in his hand and formed a red sphere of light which was transformed into a red Christmas ornament. Acting like nothing out of the normal happened, Harry threw the ornament back to Bellatrix, who immediately writhed in pain._

_"Oho! How thoughtful of you Bella! I'd say that this was the best present you groveling followers of Volde has ever given to me! A nice red Christmas ornament complete with a Crucias curse! Give old Volde my thanks and maybe an invitation for Christmas next time! And you might want this back because I don't want to be tainted by inbreed uptight fools and whatever dog they are following." _

_Bellatrix's eyes comically opened, which made her look even closer to an inferi than a human along with the fact she was just crucioed, "You wanna play little boy? Then we'll play!"_

_At that point, all hell broke loose. All twelve death eaters let forth salvos of green lights of death. Deftly avoiding all the beams of death, Harry and Hermione sent their own curses at the death eaters. Ruthlessly, they both sent bone-breaker after bone-breaker after bone-breaker, not stopping a single beat. The newbies were the first to fall; holding their arm or leg and wailing in pain. The more experienced death eaters simply continued to fire harmful spells at the pair and randomly erecting shields. In a short span of a minute, half of the death eaters were incapacitated on the floor. The other half regrouped and assessed the situation._

_Harry and Hermione meanwhile decided that it was a good time to take a breather with this impromptu truce. Eyeing their opponents, Hermione summed it up, "Looks like we're going to face some inner-circle members." _

_Harry nodded in acknowledgement, "You have a plan?"_

_Hermione pulled a small round object from her robes and grinned, "Oh yes, I have a plan." _

_Harry looked at the object curiously and shrugged, "Whatever makes us get out of here alive I guess. I can't hold out much longer." and Harry pointed at the various cuts and scrapes along with a broken rib he had he couldn't heal thanks to dark magic._

_Hermione decided it wasn't the time for lecture mode, "It's a muggle device. Don't worry; it doesn't need any electricity to use it."_

_Six beams of green light arched their way to Harry and Hermione again, forcing them to stop their conversation. Hermione ducked and weaved through the deadly lights and threw the object at their opponents._

_Hermione immediately pulled Harry in an embrace and erected a shield._

_BOOM!_

_A mass of blood, flesh, gore, and bone flew all over the place; screams of pain again echoed. Only two death eaters were left standing, who promptly fled via portkey. About then, a dozen pops were heard, signifying the arrival of the Order. _

_Ron was the first to speak, voicing what the other Order members were thinking, "What the bloody hell just happened here?"_

Harry sighed wistfully, finally remembering his other red-headed friend. At that moment, the compartment door opened again, admitting a rather faintly flustered red-headed boy, who said, "May I join you guys?"

Harry shrugged, "Sure thing."

The boy stowed his trunk away and brought a rat with him into the compartment. Closing the compartment door, the boy sat down and stroked the rat.

Harry looked at the rat closely and to his relief, there was no silver paw. Crisis was just averted. Harry looked at the boy a little more and knew it was his friend, or rather, his previous friend reincarnated.

Harry stuck his hand out in greeting, "Hello, my name is Harry Potter, yours?"

The boy replied in kind shaking Harry's hand, "Ronald Weasley, but just call me Ron."

"So Ron, you want to be friends?"

Ron shrugged, "Sure thing mate, at least you're bloody normal."

Harry's interest was piqued and Hermione discreetly peered at Ron from her book, both obviously wanting an explanation, "You all know that the bloody boy-who-lived is on the train right? Yep, and you know what? He's just a stuck up arrogant prat for lack of words to describe it. Can't believe my sister is drooling over him. And a blonde named Draco Malfoy? Don't even ask."

Harry was certainly interested now, "What do you mean?"

Ron replied, "Can you believe what Neville said? He said that the Weasleys were tainting the purebloods by their sheer lack of wealth and said we were no better than mudbloods! I mean, what's wrong with mudbloods anyways and I don't give a shite about my pure-blood status! As for wealth, who cares?"

Harry noticed Ron was incensed, but was suitably stung by acknowledging his particular weakness; the shame of poverty. Harry took sympathy knowing how the Weasley's were scraping off every knut that came by, but they had a happy family, which is what really mattered. The Malfoy's were rich and powerful, but were they happy? Nope, and Lucius… urgh! That disgusting pervert! Harry didn't even want to think of that bastard. Hermione meanwhile looked more relaxed when she realized Ron was a potential friend.

Harry took his pep talk kit to Ron and looked at him in the eye, "Look Ron, I already talked to Hermione about this. Wait, where are my manners? Ron, meet Hermione Granger. Hermione, meet Ron."  
They shook hands timidly and went back to their seats. Before Harry could talk to Ron, the door opened to let forth to the three occupants in the compartment a smirking blonde with two hulking goons flanking him.

"Well, well, well look what we have here. A mudblood, a halfbood, and a tainted pureblood… Weasley, what are you doing here with these fools? But wait! You're so friggin poor you're going to pull the purebloods down. Nevermind, stay here with those other filthy junk; us purebloods would be much well off without the lot you of you." Malfoy drawled.

The Weasley's famous temper was starting to show by the red-faced Ron and his hand was not subtlety reaching for his wand. Harry put a hand on Ron's moving hand and whispered, "Don't. Let me handle it."

Ron nodded, without really knowing why he trusted Harry. Somehow, he just trusted this boy the same age as him to handle the situation.

Hermione meanwhile looked at Ron and Harry with a look that said, "It's not worth it."

Harry though was not going to give up without giving Malfoy a piece of his mind, literally.

Harry laid back and said, "Mouthjoy, what were you saying again? Oh I can't hear you; I think you're too busy helping out your cronies with their wankers."

Malfoy wasn't pleased and reddened at the implication, "It's Malfoy you half-blood! Wait until-"

Harry leaned forward, "I give you one more chance dimwit; get the fuck out or face the consequences. I don't give a fuck about your all-powerful father."

Malfoy actually started to move forward and his goons started cracking their knuckles. Ron was starting to turn red again and Hermione looked like she wanted to do something or take whatever is coming. Harry simply smirked and said, "You guys aren't very smart at all." Immediately, Harry implanted a memory of the abuse Harry had when he was younger into Malfoy's mind.

Before Malfoy could get even a toe in the compartment, it slammed shut in his face, instantly sending the boy onto the floor. Before his goons could react, Harry transfigured their clothing into pink frilly dresses and mentally imaged the restroom and banished the three of them there. Looking at Ron and Hermione, they simply stared at him in a mixture of awe and shock.

Hermione was the first to break the ice, "How on Earth did you do that?"

Ron was next, "Yeah mate; that was bloody brilliant! Could you teach me how to do that?"

Harry put his hands up, "Woah there, one question at a time. To answer you Ron, yes, I'll teach you one of these days, just not right now. And Hermione, that was simply magic."

Hermione rolled her eyes, "Duh, what else? But how? You're only a first year and we haven't even learned how to lift a feather yet and you just made those three disappear and even transfigured their clothing. From what I read, transfiguration takes a lot of time and practice and not to mention, uses a lot of magic. What you just did there was maybe post OWL knowledge."

Harry replied, "You guys want to learn the secret?"

They both eagerly leaned in to hear what Harry had to say, "I had hours and hours and hours of practice."

They both looked at him weirdly. Hermione spoke for the pair, "What? So you are suggesting just to practice?"

Harry carefully considered the possibility. It wouldn't hurt to teach them what he knew. After all, they'll learn one of these days anyways. Any knowledge could mean the difference between life and death in the future though. Mind made up, Harry wasn't exactly comfortable with forcing his friends into doing something binding, but there wasn't a choice if Harry was to stay hidden, "Oh yeah, definitely. And I can help both of you. Just swear on your magic that you won't tell anyone else, even your parents and mine for the matter."

Hermione nodded, "I just read about magical oaths and I will say… that I will accept. Just tell me what to say."

Ron, seeing Hermione agreed, went along, "Sure thing mate."

Harry told them what to say, "Hermione, just repeat this; I, Hermione Granger, do hereby swear on my magic that I will keep everything that is discussed here and all of Harry Potter's secrets a secret unless given permission by Harry Potter. I will keep everything that is learned and known as secret from those not privy to the secret. So mote it be."

Hermione did so and a flash of magic accompanied her oath.

Harry then turned to Ron, "You are completely sure about this Ron? This stuff you won't need to learn for a couple years."

Ron shook his head, "If it's bloody awesome things like that, count me in."

Harry silently mused if only it was fun and games. No, Harry was going to prepare them for the years ahead. Sighing, Harry told Ron to swear his oath and a flash of magic accompanied Ron's oath also.

"Now that you two have sworn an oath of secrecy to me, I can feel free to help you guys with this year's curriculum. But there are things I cannot say until you have mastered the art of defending your mind, or more commonly known as Occulmency."

Both Hermione and Ron were bewildered, "What?" they blurted at the same time.

Harry sighed again, they didn't know, but Harry had expected it, "There are some people in Hogwarts that have the ability to see another person's thoughts. The art of accessing another person's mind is called Legilimency. Yes Ron, I know you want that Albus Dumbledore chocolate frog card and Hermione, you are dying to know how we are going to get sorted."

Ron and Hermione were both shocked by the blatant fact what they were thinking was exposed. Harry chuckled at their horrified expressions, "Don't worry you two, I won't intrude your mind without permission. That being said, you guys need to master Occulmency to a certain degree before I can start any useful lessons. Now, how about some sweets to let our mind off of such thoughts and get some more pleasant sensations?"

By chance, the snack trolley was outside the door.

**(A couple minutes later…)**

After Harry paid for the snacks much to the protest of Ron and Hermione, they all sat back eating whatever they chose. Both Ron and Hermione were still noticeably perturbed their thoughts could be invaded, but trusted that Harry wouldn't abuse his power. Harry meanwhile decided that he made the right choice; they both were not really different. Play his cards right, he could have more people surviving at the end, which reminded Harry that he was holding the Albus Dumbledore card again. Ron unfortunately got some forgotten wizard whose deeds were too old to bother reading about. Harry gave his card to Ron, "Here, you have a better use for it."

Ron's eyebrows shot upwards, "Blimey mate! You got Albus Dumbledore's card! You sure you want to give it to me?"

Harry shrugged, "Sure thing, I mean, what are friends for?"

Ron smiled, "Thanks mate."

Harry stared into the twin blue orbs that spoke of trust and loyalty that the previous Ron held and were there again. Harry was suitably happy; things were going together. Harry was even happier when he saw three figures hurriedly running past their cabin with hexes flying in their wake and girls screaming profanities. Yep, things were going good.

After a suitable period of silence, Harry decided to Ron a question, "So you mentioned you have a sister. Do you have any other siblings?"

Ron nodded, "Yep, I'm the sixth in our family to go to Hogwarts. You could say I got a lot to live up to. Bill and Charlie have already left… Bill was Head Boy and Charlie was captain of Quidditch. Now Percy's a prefect. Fred and George mess around a lot, but they still get really good marks and everyone thinks they're really funny. Everyone expects me to do as well as the others, but if I do, it's no big deal, because they did it first."

Harry nodded, just as he had remembered Ron had described it back then, "Cool that you got so many siblings."

Ron grunted at this, "You don't even know half the trouble there is."

Harry replied, "Right… so Hermione, you have any siblings?"

Hermione shook her head, "Nope, just me and my parents."

Harry nodded; so far things weren't too different, "That's nice. Well, I guess I'm in the middle of you guys considering I have a brother and a sister."

Hermione immediately asked, "So are they at Hogwarts?"

Harry shook his head, "Not yet. I'm the oldest out of the bunch. My brother is two years away and my sister is only a toddler."

Ron smiled, "At least you don't need to worry about your sister for some time mate. I meanwhile have a sister that already dreams of a boy. Come on! That's just not right! She's only ten for Merlin's sake!"

Harry chuckled, "I guess I'm glad."

Hermione went back to asking questions, "So really, how do we get sorted?"

Harry questioned her back along with Ron, "So what do you guys know about the sorting?"

Hermione shrugged, "I don't know."

Ron looked sheepish, "I don't know either. I think I heard Fred and George saying we have to battle trolls or something like that."

Hermione looked skeptical, "Really Ron? We are going to fight trolls?"

Harry laughed, "No, no, no guys! It is very simple; all there is a hat that sorts you into houses it deems that you would best fit in."

Hermione shot her eyebrow up and Ron was only interested because apparently he was afraid he was going to face a troll.

"Hermione, look in Hogwarts, a History. It's in there somewhere. Well, to spare the trouble, here is a rough idea of how it works…"

**(After spending half an hour of explaining…)**

"So let me get this straight, they put a hat on our heads that views our mind and puts us in a house it thinks that we fit in?" Ron asked for the fifth time.

"For the last time Ron, that's the idea." Harry replied.

"Ok, well, at least we won't be facing trolls." Ron sighed.

Hermione meanwhile just kept leafing through her book.

Harry pulled a wizard's chess set out from where he hid it until Ron would come, "So you fancy a game of wizard's chess?"

Ron eagerly nodded.

Harry mentally shook his head, some things never change.

**A/N: With some help from a friend, this chapter was in a little earlier. So how was it? Thanks for reading and expect the next chapter next week.**


	7. Year 1 - What Sort of House?

**A/N: My friend pointed out that I had misspelled Occlumency. Sorry about the error and this has been fixed in this chapter and the chapters hereon. Now on with the story...**

After a rather agonizingly long wait and a couple of dead kings, Harry was relieved to see Hogsmeade was approaching. Ron meanwhile tried to squeeze another game, which Harry promptly declined citing that they were going to stop any time now. Already changed, they didn't bother to hustle as with some of the other students. A grinding halt and doors opening signaled the arrival at Hogsmeade and the rush of students to exit the train began.

Before Hermione and Ron could rise from their seats, Harry motioned for them to sit down, "Wait guys, there are too many students exiting right now. Just wait a minute and we'll get out without a hassle."

Both nodding in agreement, they sat down. As the seconds passed, it was noticeable to the three that a giant squabble of students surrounded a boy, much to the displeasure of Ron, critically eyed by Hermione, and impassively looked on by Harry.

Ron shook his head, "I can't believe that git is the boy-who-lived. More like the celebrity-who-got-born with a big head instead."

Harry couldn't help but agree. If what Ron said was right, then the wizarding world is going to be doomed. Harry noticed the swagger in his step and the haughtiness of his composure; makings of an attention seeking brat. Harry mentally slapped himself. He thought that just Malfoy and his goons were enough. Now he got to face this new Neville and whoever was dim enough to follow his path. Oh wait!

Harry saw Neville's eyes and quickly took the chance, silently incanted, "Legilimens!"

The poor boy never knew what hit him. Harry wasn't one ounce pleased to probe another mind without their permission, but Harry made an exception for criminals, Death Eaters, and brats. And right now, there was one definite brat and another possible one to boot. Memories quickly passed by Harry, and grabbing snippets, he immediately withdrew from the boy's mind with a good idea of who he was. Harry sighed, if Dumbledore was going to think Neville is a savior, that old goat is going to get a shock of his life. Harry noticed from the memories that Neville was starting to learn some magic tutored by a couple people Harry couldn't recognize, but knew it was most likely done under the hand of Dumbledore. Let him grab the "greater good" bag o' shite. Harry wasn't trying to play down Neville's abilities, but he could only barely lift a feather in the lessons he saw from the memory! Good luck with training the savior. Harry was going to make things different and he promised himself it would start this year. No manipulations, no complications. Simple as that… or as what Harry could call simple.

A chilly feeling was felt by all the students and Harry knew exactly what causes that feeling. Shrill screams confirmed Harry's suspicions, "DEMENTORS!"

Harry's eyes widened, "What the flying fuck?!"

Hermione rolled her eyes at her friend's blatant cursing. She had lost count a long time ago and this was only a couple hours! Well, she had to agree to Harry's change of mood. Whatever was happening outside and whatever that dementor thing is, she didn't care. She started feeling withdrawn and her past fears were slowly leaking out.

Ron meanwhile felt a shiver up his spine he never felt before. Previous fears started to break through his mind for some reason. Suddenly, he felt like winter set in.

Harry immediately kicked into action before anything bad could resurface in his mind or anyone else's. Summoning his memory of meeting the leader dementor, he shouted, "EXPECTO PATRONUM!"

A large ghostly dementor shot from his wand and quickly glided to the group of dementors heading towards Hogsmeade. Sensing the foreign being, the dementors stopped devoting their attention on the students and staff and looked at the looming ghostly looking dementor. To everyone's surprise, the dementors bowed their heads to the being and left, never turning back. Harry smiled; it paid to be someone in power sometimes. Harry was going to speak to the leader dementor when he had the time, but he decided that was for later. Looking at his two new/old friends, again, they looked at Harry in shock. Harry pulled a chocolate bar and broke it in half and gave a half to Hermione and the other half to Ron.

"Here guys, this should help you recover."

Hermione opened and closed her mouth a couple times before she gave up and went outside of the compartment to grab her trunk and chew on her chocolate. Ron shook his head and grinned, "I can't wait mate! You got to teach us this Occlumency deal as soon as you can!" and stuffed the chocolate in his mouth.

Harry shrugged, "It's a skill that takes time to practice. I'll brief you two on what to do when we get into our dormitories. Agreed?"

Ron eagerly nodded, "Twank 'ate!"

Harry inwardly grinned. This Ron was so much more receptive than the other Ron. Well, still as messy... Hmm… how about, you know, a boy, a girl… no, no, no Harry, it's not time for match making. Banishing the thought, he went to get his trunk with Ron following.

The three quickly regrouped with the rest of the first years led by Hagrid and trod down a dark path. Whispering, the majority of the first years talked about a group of scary floating cloaked men that made them shiver and all of a sudden disappear with the appearance of that ghost. Harry, Hermione, and Ron though stuck together and didn't say anything because well… there was nothing to say.

"Thi' way! Thi' way first years!" Hagrid bellowed and gestured at the boats in which some of the first years already started to board on.

Yep, Harry knew that was Hagrid all right. Hermione meanwhile was looking slightly nervous at getting on the boat.

Harry put a hand on her shoulder, "Don't worry Hermione, it's only crossing a lake. We're not in the middle of the Bermuda Triangle. Only our first year would have us going by this way anyways; next year is by carriages."

Hermione grinned slightly, "Really?"

Harry nodded an affirmative and she boarded a boat with Harry and Ron following suit. Harry silently levitated Hermione a little so she wouldn't feel the boat rocking, but low enough she thought she was sitting on the boat. Naturally, thinking a boat felt just like sitting on a chair, Hermione slowly relaxed. Harry grinned at the simple use of psychology. Damn muggles are so good in so many things. The looming bulk of Hagrid reminded Harry that he didn't talk to Hagrid yet. Well, Harry was going to visit the Hagrid later. Stopping at the other end of the lake, the first years quickly disembarked and strolled their way to the looming castle ahead. Taking a quick glance, he spotted Malfoy and his goons sporting assorted cuts and boils along with the dresses still on them. Harry inwardly laughed at the image of Snape trying to charm them back. He might find it harder than just changing them back with a flick. Tapping Ron's shoulder, he gestured at Malfoy and Ron immediately grinned, "How long does it last mate?"

Harry replied, "It depends. They behave and it'll wear off in a day or so."

Hermione heard that and immediately looked disapprovingly at the two and rolled her eyes at the same time, "Boys…"

Ron and Harry looked at each other and innocently said at the same time, "What?"

A platter of footsteps announced another person approached the three. A voice scathingly spoke out, "Potter, did you get scared and shit your arse out and need to spend time with these _two_?"

Harry slowly turned around and there in front of him was Neville. No, not the timid and shy first year Neville he remembered, but a scar adorned attention-seeking brat that looked down on many. Harry sadly shook his head, having hoped not to meet this Neville this soon. Harry wasn't in the mood for a confrontation right now as he was still recuperating from the dementor's effects on him.

Harry snapped at Neville, "Sod off Longbottom, I don't have the time for this now."

Neville took that as a challenge, "You actually-"

Before Neville could finish, Harry silently banished him to the doors of the castle, obliviating him in the process, and whistled a tune like nothing happened. Ron opened his mouth and said, "That…was... BLOODY AWESOME!"

Hermione just shook her head and kept walking muttering something that sounded suspiciously like, "Boys…"

Harry shrugged, "That was nothing Ron. Let's keep going before we get too far behind everybody."

They caught up to the rest of the first years and luckily, they avoided suspicion. Some teachers were walking around looking for the party responsible for banishing "poor" Neville to the door. Unfortunately, Neville had somehow "forgotten" who his attacker was. Hagrid introduced the first years to Professor McGonagall, who took over and Hagrid promptly left.

"Good evening, students. My name is Professor McGonagall. In just a few moments, you will be led through these doors, and be sorted into your house. There are four Houses here at Hogwarts. They are Gryffindor, Ravenclaw... and Slytherin. While you are at Hogwarts, your house is like your family. Do well, and you will be awarded House points. Any rule-breaking will result in you losing points. At the end of the year, the house with the greatest number of points will win the House Cup." McGonagall said and led the first years through Hogwarts, briefly introducing anything that came by chance and of course, the ghosts, which sent some of them scurrying around in slight terror before calming down.

The Great Hall doors opened to let forth the first years, most of whom looked slightly nervous at the new scenery and the sheer number of people. McGonagall called out, "Now, when I call out your name, please go and put this hat on your head to be sorted. Abbott, Hannah!"

A girl walked to the hat. Harry meanwhile was half listening and half sleeping, not wanting to wait to taste the fare they served here again. Harry was jolted awake though by a slight probe on his outer mental defense.

"Psst! Mr. Potter… may I speak to you?" a gravely voice spoke in his mind. Oddly, it sounded familiar to Harry.

Nope, that's not Dumbledore or Snape… or Voldemort for the matter. Harry decided to mentally ask the voice, "Who are you?"

The voice said, "I am… THE Sorting Hat. But just call me… Nick, Master Potter."

Hmm… why would the sorting hat be named Nick? And why did the hat call him master? Shrugging, Harry asked, "So what do you want?"

"Are you even paying attention to the sorting Master Potter?"

Harry replied, "No, what's up? Why are you talking to me? And stop calling me master!"

The hat responded, "You don't fool me one bit Harry James Potter, recipient of-"

"OK! Ok! I get your point! Could you cut this out and tell me what you want? And I told you, no master!"

If hat had eyes, it would have rolled its eyes, "Your friend Hermione Granger is being sorted right now."

"And?"

The hat spoke, "I have a house that hasn't been used since the founding of Hogwarts. You want me to sort her there? She's a good mix of the two houses I'm thinking of and she fits this house perfectly."

What? Definitely things here are somewhat different. Another house? Harry realized this might work out better, "Go ahead, as long as it has nothing to do with-"

The hat finished for him, "Slytherin. I heard you loud and clear Master Potter before and now. Now let me sort her."

Before Harry could berate the hat, the hat retracted it's presence from Harry's mind and promptly shouted, "Gryffinclaw!"

The hall immediately went silent. The students that knew of the house system were stunned that the hat had just practically established a new house.

Immediately after the declaration, a fifth table appeared and Hermione seated herself there. A couple flags that draped the walls in the hall were promptly changed to a flag that was half lion, half eagle; half red and gold, half blue and bronze.

Dumbledore clapped his hands together, "It appears that a house previously unheard of has been unearthed by Miss Granger here. Now, let us proceed with the sorting before we can make arrangements for Hogwart's newfound house.

The hall was considerably subdued at this point of the sorting. Well, until a name was called, "Longbottom, Neville!"

The boy strut arrogantly to the chair and the hat didn't even need a second on the boy's head before it shouted, "Gryffindor!"

The Gryffindor table immediately burst into applause at getting the boy-who-lived. Surprisingly, unlike last time, the twins weren't celebrating like the rest of the Gryffindors. Nor were about a fourth of the table. Rather, they fixed glares at the boy strutting to the table. Apparently, the knowledge of the pure-blood fanatic reached the ears of the muggleborns and half-bloods. Harry meanwhile was perfectly unfazed by everything happening around him; just waiting for his turn. After a minute or so, another name of note was called.

"Malfoy, Draco!"

The pink dressed boy quickly went to the stool, hoping for a quick sort like Neville's. Unfortunately, the hat decided to take its sweet time. Muffled laughs and giggles emanated in the hall, adding to the displeasure of the scion of the Malfoy house. After a good five minutes, the hat shouted, "SLYTHERIN."

Malfoy immediately fled the stool and sat himself at the Slytherin table, although almost every Slytherin seated themselves well away from the boy. Harry inwardly sniggered; Harry: 1, Malfoy: 0.

After waiting a little more, Harry got his wish.

"Potter, Harry!"

Instead of the stares and the whispering of the boy-who-lived, Harry walked up to the stool without any of his previous publicity. Happily putting the hat on his head, Harry wasn't expecting to take too long. After waiting a few seconds, the hat spoke out.

"Ahem… My boy, unless you want to be unsorted, please lower your Occlumency barriers."

Fuck, fuck, fuck! Harry cursed in his head.

Harry mentally communicated with the hat, "Hat!"

The hat replied in his mind, "Yes Master Potter?"

"Did you have to do that?"

"Well, Master Potter, you never commanded me to not talk out loud." The hat smartly replied.

"Whatever Nick. Now let's get going. AND STOP CALLING ME MASTER. CALL ME HARRY FOR MERLIN'S SAKE."

"Not so fast buddy. It's not every day that I talk to the boy-who-lived and having the pleasure of sorting him twice. Well, thrice, but that arsehole over there doesn't count."

Harry smiled, "Ok, whatever Nick. Now can you get going?"

The hat didn't budge, "Nope. So tell me Master Potter, how-"

Harry wasn't exactly amused by the hat's attempts at pushing the bar. Harry promptly sent a sharp mental probe at the hat.

"Ow! Ok, ok Harry! No need to get violent!"

Harry though did sympathize with the hat at the same time. Who wants to sit on a shelf for hundreds of years with nothing to do but sort people? "Ok, here's a deal. How about sorting me now and I visit you ever so often. A compromise?"

The hat agreed, "Most definitely Master Potter. Remember I will be expecting you."

Harry suddenly remembered, "Oh yeah, Nick, could you sort Ron into Gryffinclaw too?"

"Sure thing Master Potter. Anything else?"

"Actually, yes Nick, please remember a girl next year, her name is Luna Lovegood. Put her in Gryffinclaw. She had suffered too much last time in Ravenclaw. AND STOP CALLING ME MASTER FOR MERLIN'S SAKE!"

"No problem. Now I'll shout my verdict before they think that I'm no longer functioning, MASTER Potter. And do please let Merlin sleep in peace."

Before Harry could retort, the hat retracted it's presence from Harry's mind and shouted out loud, "Gryffinclaw!"

Again, the hall was silenced, but another name was already called out to be sorted and the excitement was quickly forgotten. Harry silently breathed a sigh of relief; how can people be so attention-seeking? It's VERY stressful under all of those stares! Harry seated himself next to a beaming Hermione.

She was absolutely ecstatic, "Can you believe it Harry? We are the first two people to be sorted into a house that is different from the original four houses! See here, in…" she droned on. Harry smiled, but wasn't really listening. Instead Harry was seeing the twinkling eyes of Dumbledore that were looking in their direction. Harry mentally cursed, shit! He quickly thought of how cool it was being sorted into a different house and beaming with joy. Harry though was suddenly struck with inspiration and pulled a memory of himself and Ginny one night. Putting that memory at the front of his thoughts, Harry waited. At the exact moment he expected it, the familiar probe was felt on his mind, first seeing the joy like any first year would of being sorted. Shifting to the other memory, the probe was almost immediately retracted. Harry mentally rejoiced. Another point for Harry Potter! The headmaster meanwhile was no longer looking at Harry's direction and his cheeks were suitably stained a dark shade of red, though it quickly disappeared. Harry was unfazed by the reaction of Dumbledore; serves him right for probing other minds.

The sorting continued, and as requested, the hat shouted "Gryffinclaw!" when it was Ron's turn to be sorted. Ron joined with Harry and Hermione at the table, which somehow shrunk to a mere 10-person table.

Ron was excited by the outcome, "Can you believe it mate! The hat must think I am special enough to be sorted into this Gryffinclaw house! Hey! Wait a second… you guys are in the same house too? That's bloody brilliant!"

Harry couldn't help but agree.

_PAGE BREAK_

Dumbledore sat looking at the group of first years. There he was; the prophesied boy; Neville Longbottom. Dumbledore had to admit to himself that the boy has been so far, a disappointment. No matter how many tutors and even he himself were sent to teach the boy; he just couldn't do much. With his magic eye abilities, Dumbledore was surprised to find the boy's magical core was small, too small to show enough possible potential. While thinking of what could have been wrong, a flaring of magic caught Dumbledore's eye. He looked at the crowd of first years, and again, the magic pulsed. Dumbledore couldn't locate the source, but he was troubled. No one's magic should flare externally, unless they were powerful. Powerful like himself and Tom Riddle. And only a first year? He had to definitely make sure this young girl/boy was going to be guided down the right path. A silence in the hall meanwhile shook the headmaster from his musings and a sixth sense of his told him something was up. Flitwick looked at Dumbledore and squeaked, "Gryffinclaw?"

Immediately, Dumbledore went thinking in overdrive. A new house? Very interesting… he was going to keep an eye on this student. Hmm… what's her name again? Ah! Miss Granger. Dumbledore decided to appear to be taking this in stride by clapped his hands together and saying, "It appears that a house previously unheard of has been unearthed by Miss Granger here. Now, let us proceed with the sorting before we can make arrangements for Hogwart's newfound house."

Outwardly, the grizzled wizard was calm. Inwardly, the grizzled wizard's mind was running amok. Again, Flitwick's voice penetrated his thoughts, "Gryffinclaw again?"

Dumbledore looked at the boy that was just sorted and couldn't stop himself in letting a small gasp escape from his lips. Flares of magic nearly constantly emanated from the boy. This was definitely the person responsible for the flares he saw earlier. Scrutinizing the boy, he recognized it as one of the sons of the Potters. But how? He had personally visited the boy. He was not weak, but he wasn't exceptional either. Dumbledore decided to keep a close eye on the boy, reasoning to himself it was possibly just a part of magical maturation. Dumbledore's curiosity though decided to maybe take a peek at the boy's mind; maybe it'll reveal some answers. Ah… pride of being in a new house. Not strange at all, not strange at all... Next, what? Moans, cries… get yourself together Albus! Dumbledore immediately withdrew from the boy's mind, shook his head and blushed at the view of the memory. This boy was some strange one indeed. Only eleven? Oh my dear boy, you are very strange indeed.

_PAGE BREAK_

Finally the sorting ended, much to Harry's relief. For Hermione, it was the end of an intriguing experience. For Ron, it was moments before he could eat.

Dumbledore clapped his hands for silence, "Welcome all to Hogwarts…" the headmaster droned on. Harry wasn't paying attention to Dumbledore. Instead, he silently formed some fireworks and a message spell.

"-And now students-"

Harry immediately set his plan into motion, discreetly pulling his wand out and casting the necessary spells.

_BANG! _

A dozen fireworks shot from behind the headmaster and exploded a good distance above the occupants of the hall, showering everyone in confetti. Three houses were coated in random colors. The Slytherins though were coated in specifically red and gold and stuck to their clothing, much to their displeasure. A message immediately followed the fireworks and floated above the headmaster. If the students couldn't see, then the sound certainly would help.

A voice echoed in the hall, "Thank you headmaster! Because we are all famished, I'm going to help out my fellow students. Now everyone tuck in! Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!"

Now if anyone was deaf and blind, then they would surely sense the food in front of them. A moment of silence occupied the hall, but was quickly met by a flurry of laughter and conversation right after. Professor McGonagall started to pale and Professor Snape… well, he couldn't pale because he was pale as he was. The laughter was infectious in three of the houses, especially at the Gryffindor table whose occupants kept pointing at the Slytherin table that was now temporarily draped in Gryffindor revelry.

Harry smirked. Another point for Harry Potter… umm actually now Gryffinclaw! Too bad he couldn't award points for his own house… He turned to Ron whose mouth was open, but closed it and started to eat. Hermione just shook her head and gingerly picked up a piece of steak. Harry just looked sheepishly at both of them, "What? It's not like everything strange happens to have my name stamped on it!" They both rolled their eyes at his very un-innocent statement.

Unbeknownst to Harry, there was actually someone who witnessed the culprit of the mess. The witness or rather witnesses came in the form of two red-headed twins, who were awed. They were going to corner a certain Potter one of these days.

Harry started to bolt the food that appeared on his plate and took a gulp of pumpkin juice when he realized something. Where's the muggle soda? Harry couldn't resist doing one more thing. Harry asked Hermione, "You want a Dr. Pepper?"

She looked a little bit forlorn, "Really? But my parents –"

Harry waved it off, "Yes, yes, bad for your oral health. Don't worry; just brush your teeth thoroughly."

She brightened at this, "Ok! But where's the Dr. Pepper?"

Ron was stumped, "Huh? What's Dr. Pepper?"

Harry banged his head on the table, "Remind me to run a muggle crash-course with you one of these days Ron. It's a famous muggle drink. And don't worry, it's not spicy. You want to give it a shot?"

Ron shrugged, "Sure mate, as long as it doesn't kill me or turn me into an insane doctor, I think I'll do just fine."

Harry nodded and closed his eyes and pointed at all three glasses on the table. In a couple seconds, brown liquid with sparkling bubbles replaced the pumpkin juice.

Hermione eagerly took a sip, "Wow! I didn't think I could drink this here!"

Ron took a swig and grinned, "Yeah mate, this stuff is delicious! These muggles make awesome things!"

Burp!

Hermione started to scold Ron, "Manners Ron!" and she promptly fanned the air in front of her, obviously the air not smelling like tasty food anymore.

"Seriously Ron! Could you be a gentleman and burp somewhere else?"

Before Ron could reply, Hermione scolded Ron again, "And don't talk with your mouth full of food!"

Harry smiled; yep, things were good.

**(Meanwhile at a Walmart a hundred miles or so away…)**

Bob was having a bad day. Teens were smashing milk on the ground for no friggin reason. And even better, they slip on them and try to sue! Now he had to tell his boss how this store was starting to have some lawsuits against the store under his watch. Sheryl walked into the office that housed the silently fuming Bob.

"Yes Sheryl?"

"Umm… I don't know how to say this, but a pallet of Dr. Pepper in the warehouse has disappeared."

"WHAT?!"

"Yes boss… but somehow there is a pallet of something called 'Ogwarts Finest Pumpkin Juice there instead."

Bob realized his day wasn't going to get any better when an email popped into the inbox and the phone starting ringing.

**(Back at Hogwarts…)**

Harry had to refill the glass again for Ron as he couldn't get enough. And again… After Ron finished the third glass, he looked at Harry hopefully. Instead, he got a lecture, "Ron, there are plenty of this to drink in the future, so could you do yourself a favor and stop? It's not like its doomsday tomorrow. I guarantee I can get you some everyday."

Ron sheepishly looked at Harry, "Sorry mate, it's just that I never tasted this before. I really need to check out what the muggles have. Seems like us wizards missing out! (Hermione coughs) Err… witches too!"

Harry then asked Hermione, "You ok there Hermione?"

She nodded, "Never better Harry."

A clap from the headmaster and all the food disappeared.

"Now, after we our stomachs our content, let us rest for the start of another year tomorrow! Prefects! Please lead the first years to their dormitories. Miss Granger, Mr. Potter, and Mr. Weasley, please meet with Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick at the Head Table."

The students departed the hall in normal conversations. Already the excitement of the new house was quickly replaced by new gossip, whatever that was. Harry, Ron, and Hermione walked over to the two professors.

Flitwick was the first to speak, "Miss Granger, Mr. Potter, and Mr. Weasley, due to your unique situation, you will not sleep in the house dormitories. Dumbledore will direct you to your quarters. As a house that bears the pride of Gryffindor and the intellect of Ravenclaw, we will allow you to access both the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw dormitories. However, like all students, there is a curfew after nine, no excuses unless you have a pass from a professor. There is to be no dueling, fighting or use of magic in the halls or in class. Any questions?"

All three shook their heads.

Flitwick clapped his hands, "Good! Now Dumbledore will be here soon. Now that's out of the way, we will be the head of your house. Since you don't have a prefect and house points will not mean much, prefects cannot deduct points or assign punishments to you. HOWEVER, we are expecting you to be abiding by the rules. Stepping out of line will lead to loss of privileges and/or punishments. Ah! Here he is. Remember if you have any questions, feel free to stop by!"

Both professors left and Dumbledore replaced them, "Ah, my fellow students, let me say one thing; welcome to Hogwarts. Now I know the special circumstances are that you are not sorted into the normal four houses. Do not worry; be proud that the hat deemed you are worthy to be different from others. I will trust the hat's decision that you will be mature about this and act accordingly. Enough of this talk at this hour; let us retire for the night."

The three didn't say anything and followed Dumbledore through some passages and stairways until they met a portrait of a knight.

Dumbledore said, "Checkmate."

The knight nodded and the door swung open. Dumbledore led the three to a cozy room with a couple loveseats, a couch, a couple chairs, a table, and a fireplace. Seven doors were at the other end of the room.

Dumbledore spoke, "Now this will be your common room if you wish to convene here. You may also enter the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw dormitories as long as you do not disturb their peace. Your sleeping quarters are at the other end of the room. Your name will be on the door. Yes, somehow there are three extra rooms. You may use them to whatever you deem fit as long as it does not delve in the dark arts. The last room to the right is the lavatory. Now are there any questions?"

The three shook their heads again.

"Good! Now you may change the password to enter at any time. Just ask the knight and he will do it for you. Current password is checkmate. Just remember that it is recommended you all agree on a password. Don't want to be stranded outside past curfew right? Now retire for the night; your schedules will be handed out to you tomorrow at breakfast." Dumbledore said and pulled out of his pockets three identical looking golden orbs wrapped in a wrapper.

Eyes twinkling, the headmaster spoke, "Now could you grace the headmaster with your acceptance of a lemon drop?"

Ron and Hermione looked at Harry, who took one and the other two did the same.

Dumbledore beamed, "Thank you. You have no idea how many people are missing out on this treat! Cheerio!"

Dumbledore promptly exited the room, leaving the three sitting on the couch.

Hermione looked at Harry, "Are these any good?"

Harry plopped his into his mouth, "So-so, if you love sour things, go ahead. If you don't, then you won't like it. Personally, I only eat them when I'm frustrated and want to think of different things. Amazing how these drops can be a pseudo stress-reliever. But hey, I did warn you; they are VERY sour. Might make you into senile old men or women too."

Hermione and Ron plopped their pieces into their mouths and immediately spat them out.

"Mate, how can you survive these things?!" Ron asked with a disgusted look on his face.

Harry smirked, "Hours and hours and hours of sucking."

Hermione shook her head in semi-disbelief and pointed at the two wet lemon drops on the ground, "Now what?"

Harry decided that this new house thing was a good outcome after all. He could tutor them at his leisure.

Harry shrugged, "Would you like to try out some spells?"

They both nodded.

"Alright, let me demonstrate, although don't look for me when it comes to cleaning. I suck at it."

Harry spat the remnants of his lemon drop onto the floor.

"Alright, for this case I need to rid of the lemon drop and clean the carpet. First, I do this. _Evanesco_!"

The lemon drop disappeared, leaving only a wet spot on the carpet. Harry then chanted, "_Scorgify!_"

The wet spot was cleaned and the carpet looked clean again.

"As you can see, it looks like nothing had ever happened. Now both of you, at this stage, you will need to do the correct wand movements. Yes Hermione, I know you are dying to know how I don't need to adhere to that rule. I'll cover it after you guys master Occlumency. Now enough chit-chat! Do…"

**(After a dozen minutes of demonstrating the proper movements and saying the two incantations…)**

Harry was suitably satisfied they could do the spell and charm without causing harm.

Harry beckoned at Hermione to proceed, "Go ahead Hermione."

"_EVANESCHO!"_

To Harry's relief, nothing happened. Hermione was puzzled, "What went wrong?"

Harry corrected her, "It's EVANESCO, not EVANESCHO. You added an h in your incantation."

Hermione nodded and shouted, "_EVANESCO!_"

Half of the lemon drop disappeared.

Harry clapped, "It's a good start Hermione. No one is expected to do it perfect the first try. Now try again."

_"EVANESCO!"_

The lemon drop disappeared.

Harry clapped again, "Good, now get rid of the stain on the carpet."

Hermione concentrated, "_Scorgify!_"

The spot disappeared and Hermione beamed.

Harry nodded, "Good Hermione. Now it's your turn Ron."

Ron held on the decrepit wand and pointed at the lemon drop on the floor, "AVAN-"

Harry shouted, "No Ron! It's an E, not an A. Now repeat; EVANESCO."

Ron repeated, "Evanesco."

Harry nodded, "Now try again."

"_EVANESCO_!"

The lemon drop moved slightly and Ron had plastered a look of disappointment on his face.

Harry encouraged Ron, "Come on now, don't worry, try again! It's only your first try."

**(After half an hour…)**

Harry mentally face-palmed himself. He had to remember he wasn't talking to the brightest witch of the generation; he was just trying to talk to Ronald Weasley. When did Ron develop an aptitude for magic anyways? Or maybe Harry was just being strict… Yeah, Harry reasoned that they were only first years. Harry wasn't exactly disappointed though; at least Ron made an effort to do it until he succeeded. Unlike the whining old Ron, this Ron seemed to be happy to learn, although Harry suspected it was only because he wanted to kick some ass. Heh, let him think what he wants. In a few years, they WILL kick some ass whether they liked it or not.

Harry nodded at the two, "Good job guys. You will learn this eventually and well, be happy that you guys are now two spells ahead of the game. Honestly, so far you guys are doing great. I think it had taken me hours to do those the first time around. Now stop grinning like idiots; there will be many more to learn and they will eventually be harder, maybe even so complex a couple people are needed to cast the spell. Now let's sleep and see what tomorrow brings, no use in walking around like a zombie on the first day of school right? And about Occlumency, you guys can start by reading these two handbooks. When you are finished, go ahead and look for me. By the way, if you are to EVER speak to Professor Dumbledore or Professor Snape, DO NOT look at them in the eye."

Hermione asked, "Why?"

Harry responded, "To initiate a mental intrusion, you need to maintain eye contact. Because you guys cannot shield your minds at this point, the best defense is prevention."

Ron was the one to speak, "Why Dumbledore though?"

"He's a very skilled Legilimens, maybe the most powerful one in the wizarding world. Now enough, let's hit the bunks."

Harry conjured two copies of the said book and gave them to Hermione and Ron. Harry then took his leave and entered his room to find his trunk on the bed, Hedwig, and Fawkes. He threw the trunk to the left side of the table. He stretched and lay back on the bed, satisfied how things were going. Malfoy was knocked down a peg and he reacquainted with his best friends. Oh yeah, one more thing; Dumbledore hopefully learned that viewing an eleven year old's mind could also contain porn. Yep, a very productive day indeed. Somehow though, Harry felt he missed a couple very important things. He decided he needed to consult Fawkes and... Fawkes. Oh yeah! Harry concentrated on the pallet of Dr. Pepper sitting outside of the school, flamed there, and flamed the pallet back in one of the spare bedrooms. Now Harry could consult Fawkes and... Fawkes. It didn't feel natural to Harry's tongue to say Fawkes and... Fawkes.

Hermione took her leave and entered her room to find her trunk on a table and Crookshanks. She lay the giant book Harry gave her on the trunk and lay on the bed. She took a quick overview of the day. She was no one really special; no one had really cared for her. Now she had Harry and Ron. She wasn't entirely sure about the red-headed boy, but she found that they both had similarities; they both were intrigued by this Harry Potter and wanted to learn from him. The way he was and the knowledge he had, who wouldn't? They were both looked down by the pure-blooded society, yet, they are under the wing of a son of a pure-blooded house. Even though Harry was technically a half-blood, the Potter family was a strong pure-blood wizarding family, so they didn't get problems with other pure-bloods. Hermione smiled as she lay on the bed; she never had friends or anyone who appreciated her thirst for intellect ever. And now, she made two friends and she felt like they would be like this for a long time. Or rather, she hoped it wasn't a dream and it was not just some sick joke and hoped it would stay like this. Even though she respected Harry to a certain extent, she sensed that the red-head was more interesting in the future though. She closed her eyes and for the first time in her life, she fell asleep without changing her clothes.

Ron was the last to go and entered his room to find his trunk on the floor and Scabbers. He quickly stowed the giant book Harry gave him on a table in the bedroom, changed and lay back on the bed thinking of what happened today. He had made an oath on his magic to this Harry Potter. No, Ron was not regretting at all. He felt like he made the right choice. Not only does he kick ass, he kicked ass twice and did all these kick ass things! Even better, he never boasted about it. Instead of yapping around like that Longbottom kid or Malfoy, he simply lay back and watched the carnage. Yep, Ron was agreeing that being friends with Harry Potter was a smart choice. He fell asleep thinking of his other friend though; a certain bushy haired girl. She was not really an enigma; she was a muggleborn, but she learned fast! Ron had to admit to himself he was slightly jealous of her ability to learn. Interest kindled, he wanted to know more about her one of these days. For now, he fell into the abyss of dreams.

**(Meanwhile, at the headmaster's office)**

Dumbledore was slightly disturbed. An eleven year old that was more powerful that he himself at his age? That was very disturbing. He appears to have his sway with people; picking up two friends and already a good portion of the school will be on his side if he continues what he does. This was the possible makings of a Dark Lord. Powerful, full of charisma, and cunning… Well, Harry wasn't a Slytherin, so the hat must see that the boy wasn't exactly cunning. Dumbledore sighed; why did he have to do all of the thinking? Neville Longbottom was not what he expected; Dumbledore didn't miss the glares Neville received when he was called out. That boy must be taught some manners. The boy could not expect to defeat the Dark Lord without allies. But this certain Harry Potter was much more promising. Maybe Dumbledore needed to check the prophesy again; things do not add up. While Dumbledore was pondering, he never noticed three phoenixes quietly conversing with each other in a corner of his office. A timer rang on the headmaster's desk and Dumbledore ran to the fireplace, picked some Floo powder and shouted, Grimmauld place!

Dumbledore quickly strode to the front of the table where the Order of Phoenix convened. It was just a small meeting about the recent dementor attack at Hogsmeade.

Only the Weasley's, Potter's, and a couple others were seated. Dumbledore clapped, "Order, Order! Now to our first order of business, I assume you have been all informed of the dementor attack on Hogsmeade."

The group nodded. James was the first to ask, "Was there any casualties?"

A burly authoritative auror shook his head, "Nope James, apparently something scared them off."

An auror added, "They kept saying about some giant ghost dementor making them leave though. Honestly, it sounds like some shite."

Murmurs of agreement filled the room.

Dumbledore was intrigued, "SILENCE! Now you said that there was a giant ghost dementor that appeared at Hogsmeade?"

The auror sighed, "Yes, and Dumbledore, a giant ghost dementor appeared in Hogsmeade. Swear on my magic."

Dumbledore was truly intrigued, "Kingsley, was there any source you could determine from where this ghost dementor came from?"

The auror shook his head, "Nope. The only thing magic we could trace was a Patronous charm that was cast."

Dumbledore did a double take, "A patronous?"

"Yep, but no one had reported any Patronous was cast though and no one witnessed one."

Dumbledore sat in deep thought. This was a very interesting development. A patronus that was a dementor?

**A/N: And this ends another chapter... Thanks for reading as always and please review! Expect an update next week.**

**BTW: The dementor thing will eventually be explained. Also, at this point there will be no pairings until 3rd or 4th year.**

**And there are three phoenixes because there is previous dimension Fawkes, current Fawkes, and Harry.**


	8. Year 1 - First Round

Harry groaned as Fawkes woke him up. Damn phoenix has too much burning energy… Opening his eyes, he found the phoenix was agitated. Sending a mental probe to Fawkes, he asked, "What's wrong?"

"I've been waiting a couple hours for you to wake up."

"And?"

"I have a message from Nicky."

"And what's that?"

"Use your magical suppressors. Apparently somehow the charms that hid your magical core fell when you arrived at Hogwarts according to Nicky."

Harry sighed and pulled the covers off himself, "Thanks Fawkes, but did he say why?"

The phoenix shook his head, "He just told me to relay that message to you."

Harry groaned again, "Why can't he let me know later? It's three in the morning for Merlin's sake!"

Fawkes smirked, "Don't ask me; ask Nicky."

Harry waved it off, "Yeah, yeah, whatever. Tell him next time to do it at a human time please, I'm not a bat."

"Sure."

_Foom!_

Harry shook his head at his familiar's behavior, old relic somehow is even more energetic than a toddler, which made Harry wonder; do phoenixes ever sleep? Deciding to take Nicolas' advice, Harry went to his trunk, retrieved the magical suppressor wristband, and wore it. A flash and Harry knew that it worked. He was going to make sure that he would release the extra energy whenever no one was watching.

Harry lay back on the bed again and quickly fell asleep to be awoken again in a couple hours…

Harry walked into the common room holding a set of robes, or rather, he thought a living room. After all, there are only two other people to share it so doesn't a common room sound too big? Harry went to the loo to get a shower and begin his day.

Walking out, he saw Ron and Hermione milling about rather blearily.

"Good morning Hermione! Morning Ron!"

Ron said something low that sounded like, "Morning Harry…Hermione."

Hermione meanwhile responded in kind, "Good Morning Harry! Ron!"

They were both about to leave when Harry called out, "So you guys changed yet?"

The two immediately ran to their rooms, doors slamming shut. Harry chuckled; they were already like a… nah, not yet. Harry walked out of the room and walked to the Great Hall.

Harry was quite early and the only people sitting around were professors or a couple early risers. Eating in relative silence, he was joined by Hermione and Ron about a couple minutes later. Soon, the hall filled out and the schedules were handed out.

Harry didn't know how it happened, but he was already hitting the second weekend of the school year. Not much he could note besides his brain being so bored, he was somewhat afraid it would turn to goo. Seriously, a boil cure potion? ZZZ… Well, the first potion's class wasn't what Harry anticipated…

_Harry walked into the dank, dark dungeon with Ron and Hermione in tow._

_Harry led them to some seats in the middle, "Here it is guys; the Potions Dungeon. Not exactly homey, is it?"_

_The two shook their heads in agreement. If the surroundings were to judge the occupant; the occupant wasn't exactly a pleasant one._

_Slowly, the students filed in, taking their seats. Today was a relatively "easy" going class; only the Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs. _

_The class started with the classic Snape banging the door open and swishing his robes, which caused some first-years to jump up in fright. Already fore-warned, Ron and Hermione didn't react. Harry just sat tight-lipped and emotionless. _

_The twin dark orbs scoured through the classroom as if trying to peer into each student's soul as he did the roll-call. Well, that greasy bastard/savior was certainly checking out everyone's mind. Blegh! Damn these skilled Legilimens! Well… except for Harry himself. Hey! He had justification! He only used it for the purpose of the greater good and… yeah. That would be a very hypocrite thing to think when he detested the giant greater good banner. Harry decided to not deny the fact that the art was both useful and deplorable. Seeing the twin orbs starting to scour near Harry, he semi-panicked. Oh crap! Harry again thrust a random thought to the forefront of his mind and put the special scene he had propped for Dumbledore previously now displayed for Snape. Well, Harry decided to add some additions like a couple more girls, a couple candles, a bigger bed… yeah you got the point. Harry patiently waited for the probe to come and sure enough, it came. Harry felt the probe quickly go from the first memory to the next memory and it stayed there for a good five seconds. Immediately after that, the probe immediately retracted and the potions master face was stained an unnatural shade of red. Harry didn't feel a scrap of pity; no one deserves pity for pilfering through minds of innocent children. Well, Harry just realized something; probably the greasy potions professor never had a good shag ever-EW! Yeah, Harry decided to stop thinking and focused on the staring contest between Neville and Snape. Snape sneered, "So it's the Gryffindor boy-who-lived, Mr. Longbottom."_

_Neville confidently retorted, "At least not a greasy bastard like you!"_

_Snape simply said, "Twenty points from Gryffindor for using profanities in the classroom Mr. Longbottom. Is there anything to add?"_

_The boy turned into a dark shade of red, "You can't do that! You're only a potions professor!"_

_Snape sneered again, something Harry felt was actually a permanent thing on his face, perhaps seen even more a featureless mouth, "Fifty points from Gryffindor Mr. Longbottom and detention with Filtch."_

Harry was definitely cementing his feeling that being no longer in the spotlight was a VERY good thing and self-declared this was a very much deserved vacation for himself and his soul. Well, Harry was a little sorry for the Gryffindors, but Harry smirked. He was going to help his old house one way or another…

_The trio of Gryffinclaws or simply the "Trio" trooped into their charms class. Apparently, they earned their name by constantly sticking around each other, acing their classes and weathering the jabs by all older students of the houses, especially the Slytherins. Not to mention, they are the only three occupants of the new house, so there was justification for the name. The Ravenclaws were impressed at their studious nature, the Gryffindors were impressed at their bravery of withstanding the jabs, and the Hufflepuffs were impressed at their loyalty for each other. Enough said, the Trio sat themselves and waited for the class to begin. _

_The class was a simple affair; levitate a feather. But what made it not simple was that the class was the same period for Gryffindor and Slytherin. Apparently schooled by the older students, they both were cleanly separated in the classroom, nearly all were looking at each other distrustfully. Harry wasn't one to vouch for house rivalry, but the fact that Slytherin was already in a 150 point lead made Harry decided to play it rough. Glancing at Malfoy, who was now back to normal, Harry smirked. Harry silently concentrated on the feather the pathetic fool was trying to levitate and it started to burn. Yelping, Malfoy tried to put the fire out, but simply spread it to the table and his clothing. To put in simple terms, the Slytherins lost fifty points for burning half the classroom. Heh, muggle fire-extinguishing techniques are still better sometimes. _

Yeah, Harry knew ways to get these Slytherins in check. But that damn Snape keeps making his efforts seem fruitless… Well, Harry respected the man for his spying duties, but beyond that, Harry just saw a greasy Slytherin arsehole. Well, maybe an expert dueler too. Harry was then reminded that something this dimension was very different from the previous; there was a dueling tournament held every year along with Quidditch. All years were welcome because well, a seventh year would most likely beat a sixth year, who would beat a fifth year, who would beat a fourth year… yeah the point is taken. So if you are younger, enter at your own risk practically, but no one is stopping you. Harry smirked; he was going to make sure that he would win the tournament.

But enough of that, Harry went back to thinking about himself. No more people trailing the "wizarding savior" or reporters scrambling to find out if he was still the most eligible bachelor in Britain. Harry realized this was how many being a normal person felt like. People were just people. Harry was just Harry. He was just Harry Potter, another first-year student attending Hogwarts. No extra strings attached or fame. Yep, definitely a less stressful way to live. His thoughts floating around in no definite direction, a glitter of a rock on the floor in his room jolted Harry from his thoughts. Harry realized he had never worked retrieving the stone! Harry went into a slight panic mode and relaxed himself. Quirrell wasn't really seemingly working on anything so far, but that could change. Harry berated himself for the slip. He had let himself delve too much into re-connecting with his friends for the last two weeks. Now where was that blasted stone anyways? Damn… Harry forgot that the mirror wouldn't appear until Christmas. That was another three months away… and the dueling trials were starting today. Harry sighed; he would be patient.

Harry walked outside of his room to greet Hermione and Ron, "Good morning guys!"

They both said in unison, "Morning Harry."

Harry sat himself on the couch, "So anything you guys want to do today?"

Hermione shrugged, "Not really. I think I'll use the weekend to cover some more spells."

Ron looked excited, "You hear about the dueling tournament today mate?"

Harry nodded, "How would I miss that one?"

"Geez… I wonder mate! Who almost forgot to sign up here?" Ron said and raised an eyebrow.

Ok fine, he had a point, "Alright, whatever Ron, you know that I'm going to whoop your arse."

Ron sniggered, "Oh no, I don't intend for you to face me. I want to see the ponce Malfoy go against you. Can't wait to see what happens to that ponce."

Harry raised an eyebrow, "And who will you want to face?"

"Terry Boot. He's a Raven."

Harry asked, "Are you sure you're not in Slytherin Ron?"

"Hell no! I'm just smart enough to know my limits." Ron replied with a cheeky smile.

"Brat." Harry said and lightly punched Ron in the arm.

Ron punched back, "Brat yourself. Let's get going before we are late."

Harry turned to Hermione, "You sure you don't want to participate in the dueling tournament?"

Hermione nodded and continued scrutinizing the first-year book of spells, "I'll try out next year when I am knowledgeable enough so I don't make a fool of myself."

Harry shrugged and followed Ron out of the common room, "Suit yourself Hermione, but don't experiment too much! Ron and I would like to see the common room in one piece when we get back here."

Hermione held a small smile, "Cheeky brat."

Harry did a thumbs up, "Good to know!"

**(A couple minutes later…)**

Harry and Ron arrived at the Great Hall that had been turned into some sort of dueling arena. A couple of dueling platforms were setup and quite a lot of upper years filled the room. Apparently, Harry and Ron were the only first years; actually they were only students present that are younger than fourth year.

Ron looked slightly nervous at the prospects, "Umm Harry? I think we're the only first years here."

Harry rolled his eyes, "Thanks for the news flash Ron."

Ron looked at Harry, "So I guess you versus me?"

Harry shook his head, "I don't think I will face you. Actually, we might, but that's up to the judges, however they will pair us up."

At that point, the talking ceased and everyone looked forward.

The charms professor started, "Welcome students to Hogwart's 500th Annual Dueling Tournament! As you have all signed up, your names are put in the cup over there. Since you have read the rules and regulations, I will not delve into the long speech. Just be forewarned; there are to be no dark-curses or unforgivable in this dueling arena."

The diminutive professor points to a clay cup that was glowing slightly orange, "When your name appears, please come to the front."

The cup instantly spat a name out, "Nymphadora Tonks!"

The pink-haired seventh year walked to the front.

Another name popped out, "Oliver Wood!"

The Gryffindor Quidditch captain walked to the front.

Harry meanwhile didn't pay attention to that. He was busy with Ron.

Ron pointed out, "Bloody hell mate, we're going against people that are in OWL or NEWT level, how the heck are we going to get out of this bleeding mess?"

Harry shrugged, "We'll fight 'till the end Ron. Just keep that in mind next time. Hopefully by then we'll be more knowledgeable."

Ron sniffed, "You mean that I need to be more knowledgeable. But seriously, I'll try."

Harry nodded, "Good. Now let's wait for our name to be called out."

And so Harry and Ron waited, the students slowly either staying back if they won or walked out because they lost. Eventually, it was time for Ron to come up.

"Ronald Weasley!"

Harry patted Ron on the back, "Just try your best Ron."

Ron nodded back and walked to the front.

**(A couple seconds later…)**

A defeated Ron walked out. Harry shrugged; he will learn that no one win's all of life's battles in any form, but he will need to learn how to win more often, which is what counts.

"Harry Potter!"

Harry stood up and walked to the platform.

"Marcus Flint!"

The Slytherin Quidditch captain walked to the front with a giant smirk; a first-year against him?

Harry meanwhile smiled inwardly; he was not planning to plant any hexes on Flint today.

Flitwick made them shake hands and they walked away from each other to the opposite ends of the dueling platform. The onlookers mostly sniggered; who was this first year to think that he could win?

Flitwick chanted, "Alright, you may start in 3…2…1… BEGIN!"

Marcus immediately sent a clashing curse at Harry, who neatly side-stepped the curse. Marcus' eyes rose up an inch and so did the onlookers.

Marcus then said, "Impedimenta!"

The curse again was neatly side-stepped by Harry.

Marcus at this point fired anything he could think of, but Harry kept side-stepping the jets of light. It wasn't until a knuckle connected with Marcus' face that he realized that Harry was only toying with him. Harry neatly took the wand from the slackened hand and walked back to his side.

Flitwick respectfully clapped for Harry, "Good Harry! Harry Potter is the winner of this duel!"

Meanwhile, the occupants could only look in shock; did they just see a first-year defeat a sixth-year without even lifting his wand?

Harry walked back to the Gryffinclaw common room, satisfied his reflexes were still good. But he noticed that he was slower than what he should be; back to the Room of Requirement sometime soon then. For now, he walked into the common room to meet a Ron who was trying to perfect his levitation charm and Hermione was still reading from the spell book.

Harry waved at both of them, "Hey guys! Anything you found of interest yet?"

Ron replied, "Not yet, just trying to lift this damn book. So how did it go?"

Harry grinned, "Just as good as I thought."

Ron asked, "What do you mean by that?"

Harry shrugged, "You'll find out tomorrow morning. So how are you doing Hermione?"

Hermione sighed and pointed at the leg-locking curse in the spell book, "Am I doing something wrong? Apparently I can't do this right because nothing happens."

**(After half an hour of attempting)**

Harry felt his legs lock and Harry grinned. Finally!

Hermione shared the same sentiment as she grinned also, "Thanks Harry!"

Harry turned to Ron, who had finally managed to levitate a textbook, "How is it going over there Ron?"

Ron shrugged, "I got down the levitation charm I guess. Now what's next?"

Harry pointed at Hermione, "Did you learn the leg-locking curse yet?"

Ron shook his head, "Not yet."

Harry pointed at Hermione, "Then well, Hermione, could you show Ron how to perform the spell?"

Hermione nodded, "Sure Harry. Alright, Ron, so you begin by..."

Harry left the two to their own devices and went into his bedroom. Closing his eyes; he flamed to the front to the Room of Requirement. While they were working on that spell, or rather Ron, Harry was going to practice.

**A/N: Yeah, sorry for the really short chapter, but I kind of hit a writer's block... Next chapter will be longer. Expect an update about 1-2 weeks, depending on how much time I can put into this. As always, thanks for the reviews and support!**


	9. Author's note, update will be next week

Really sorry guys for not updating this! I'm a little stuck, but I am working on the next chapter right now. About halfway done, so expect it sometime next week. Again, really sorry for the late update! (I will remove this author's note when I post the new chapter up). As always, thanks for following and reviewing!


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